Galaxia's Wars
by Geothermal
Summary: The histories of Galaxies are marked by the rise and fall of empires and alliances after thousands of years of existing. However, there are many that continue to exist in spite of many attempts to prevent it. They are the ancients, the faithful, those with determination, and above all, those who can endure time. Welcome to Galaxia, the galaxy of war and darkness.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello readers!**

**I would like to say that this is my very first fic that I've written. This fiction is a fusion of both Warhammer 40k and Halo together into one universe.**

**This is heavily inspired from Evident Disaster's UCAF stories and The Hammer and the Rings by AzureSpider. Along with erttheking's stories like From the Ashes and Mass Effect New Origins. Love them all! **

**I will say this now and not every time, Halo belongs to 343 Industries (and probably Bungie) and Warhammer 40k belongs to Game Workshop. So don't say that I'm copy writing or some crap like that. Every thing else that doesn't belong to two groups is my creation. **

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><p><strong>PrologueTimeline:**

++Accessing File known as Timeline of Galaxy++

++Bringing file to the screen++

-Pre 1.000.000 Before Imperial Calendar (B.I.C): Events regarding the War on Heaven occur. No known information from that time is available to us.

-1.000.000 B.I.C: A mysterious races known as the Precursors arrive in the galaxy through unknown means of transportation and settle down. Unfortunately, small amount of data regarding this time period is in either fragments or nonexistent.

-980.000 B.I.C: The Precursor's empire comes across the Eldar Empire; it is unknown on what exactly occurred, but many suspect that the Eldars saw them as a foreign threat that needed to be eliminated, thus conflicts erupt on both sides into a full-blown war.

-800.000 B.I.C: The Precursors begin the process of bio-accelerating evolution with many sentient species to look for 'worthy inheritors' to watch the galaxy (seeing that the Eldar were bio-engineered by the Old Ones, the Precursors didn't consider them as actual species). The Precursor's population was declining and weakening from the warp effects and the war with the Eldars was costing them too many lives.

-780.000 B.I.C: The Forerunner race is bio-accelerated by the Precursors. Their trail begins.

-705.000 B.I.C: The Human race is bio-accelerated by the Precursors. Their trail begins.

-630.000 B.I.C: The Forerunners have been deemed a failure because of their little resistance to the warp's effects and plans to dispose them begin. The Precursors begin putting their focus on Humanity and other races that seemed to have a better chance of succeeding the trials and surviving the Ruinous Powers.

-629.800 B.I.C: Having foreseen this action beforehand, in a final attempt to destroy the Precursors once and for all, the Eldars secretly tell the Forerunners of their creator's plans for them in hopes of spurring them to wage war and offer an alliance between them.

-628.000 B.I.C: Humanity and few other species have been deemed successful at resisting the warp and harnessing it with humans showing better promises than others. The Precursors decide to name humanity and several other species successors of the Mantle.

-620.000 B.I.C: In a surprise attack, The Forerunners lashed out to their creators swiftly and without remorse that resulted in countless Precursors lives lost. Then the Eldars came out of their borders to strike at unsuspecting Precursor military forces and claim former Precursor worlds for themselves while the Precursor's forces were trying to organize themselves in the confusion.

-609.500 B.I.C: Only few Precursors remain after the attacks. In a last desperate gamble, they turn to the one of Chaos Gods of the Ruinous Powers, Nurgle to save them from destruction. Nurgle agrees with their pleas but asks for their loyalty in return. The Precursors agree to the condition and start transforming.

-600.000 B.I.C: The remaining transformed Precursors retreat from the galaxy to one of the satellite galaxies orbiting ours, vowing to return and extract vengeance. The Forerunners and Eldars, believing the Precursors to be dead for good, begin consoling their power throughout the galaxy. Humanity and other species (they had seen the Precursors as fatherly mentors) are outraged of this action and begin to make plans to avenge the Precursors. They form an alliance dubbed the 'Inheritors of the Mantle'.

-530.000 B.I.C: The IM begins launching their attacks throughout Forerunner and Eldar space. Many planets are laid to waste by the IM in the first moments of the war.

-527.750 B.I.C: Both Forerunners and Eldars start organizing their defenses and send counter-attacks against the IM. The war so far is in stalemate.

-456.290 B.I.C: The tide of the war turns in the favor of the Forerunners/Eldar forces. The Eldars had released warp storms into IM regions, thus creating massive damage and losses. That results with entire species being consumed by daemons in the warp because of the strength of their connection to the Immaterium. The IM forces are soon being forced to retreat. The use of the Webway of the mysterious Old Ones gives the Eldar a large advantage over their opponents.

-430.000 B.I.C: The Inheritors of the Mantle begins to break down as the war goes badly for them. Some species start to drop out and disappear from existence:

429.850: the San 'Shyuum retreat to their homeworld, all contact is lost to them shortly.

428.530: a member referred as the 'Leviathans' evacuate their remaining worlds and retreat to the 'unknown regions' in the other side of the galaxy.

-350.000 B.I.C: The alliance is defeated.

-330.000 B.I.C: All remaining members that hadn't gone into hiding or weren't outright destroyed are stripped of their empires, technology and exiled to their home worlds.

-295.000 B.I.C: The alliance is fully disbanded and their surviving members punished. Peace and order is brought back into the galaxy.

-103.000 B.I.C: The Forerunners and Eldars have enjoyed the peace in the galaxy for thousands of years. Unknown to everyone, the transformed Precursors, now calling themselves the 'Flood', begin mobilizing themselves to war.

-102.200 B.I.C: Contact with several frontier worlds is lost. They are however, written off as technical errors and only send technicians to fix it. However, those teams fail to report in.

-102.000 B.I.C: Without warning, hundreds of worlds are attacked by an unknown race and consumed. The Forerunner and Eldar forces are in disarray and in the process of being destroyed. They soon learn that the unknown race calls itself the 'Flood'.

-101.900 B.I.C: While analyzing dead flood forms, scientists are shock that the Flood is in fact, the previously thought dead Precursors and have been mutated beyond recognition and gifted by Nurgle of the Ruinous Powers.

-101.700 B.I.C: The Flood continues to invade Forerunner/Eldar space (with the Forerunners taking the brunt of the force) and consume countless worlds.

-101.300 B.I.C: The Eldars retreat into the webway to survive the onslaught of the Flood, thus leaving the Forerunners to fight alone. They start to become desperate on winning the war.

-101.270 B.I.C: The Forerunners construct massive shield worlds and ring-like fortresses in hopes of inhabiting them to survive like the Eldar did with the Webway. The Flood however quickly found out and struck and cut of the Forerunner's ancient core worlds from the rest of the galaxy to denied them that chance. All Forerunners throughout the galaxy with the exception of those in the core worlds are consumed.

-101.180 B.I.C: With preparations done, the Flood launches an all out invasion on the last remaining Forerunner worlds with all their remaining units. The core world's fall one by one until only the original homeworld is left standing.

-101.021 B.I.C: Gathering every single unit the Flood has in its disposal, they launch their final attack on the homeworld of the Forerunners and its remaining population.

-101.010 B.I.C: In a last act of defiance, the Forerunners detonate their star into a hypernova (it's when a supermassive star explodes in force that makes supernovas of giant stars look pathetic). Thus killing the last remaining Forerunners and wipes out the Flood with it (with a smile on their faces). The consequence of this action however, results in the birth of a massive black hole that consumes any 'unlucky survivors' that managed to survive the blast and the remains of the homeworld. Thus, the Age of the Forerunners is over, with their proud home system now the resting place of a massive black hole that will be forever known by other races as the 'Eternal Black Gate of Death'.

-100.000 B.I.C: The galaxy is once again silent from the end of the war. Without being restricted by the Forerunners and Eldars, many races once again begin to ascend in technology once again.

-90.000 B.I.C: The Eldar race leaves the confines of the Webway to find the galaxy different than before. They quickly go forth to reclaim lost planets of theirs and rebuilt their shattered empire while keeping an eye on the other races.

-20.000 B.I.C: The Eldar Empire has gone through a golden age for over 70 thousand years. Unknown to themselves, their very own enjoyment/pleasure seem to be causing something in the Immaterium but many choose to ignore it. Races like humanity have once again begun to expand into the stars and forming their own empires.

-18.000 B.I.C: Warnings begin to appear to the Eldar about the disturbance occurring in the warp but many are too caught up in their enjoyment of pleasure to take any notice. Those who do, fearing for the safety of their race, begin leaving the empire to form Maiden worlds or build massive craftworlds to ferry their people.

-15.000 B.I.C: By the time the first waves of craftworlds have left the empire, the event known as the Fall occurs. In the Immaterium, the warp churns for final time before it explodes in psychic scream that is felt in both the Immaterium and the Materium, signifying the birth of another Chaos God: the Prince of Pleasure, Slaneesh and the creation of the Eye of Terror.

-15.000-10.000 B.I.C: The result of the scream creates warp storms of large magnitudes that devastate the galaxy. Killed by their very own hands, Slaneesh consumes (along with most of their gods) the mighty Eldar Empire and most of the race. The other races weren't spared from this destruction; each one lost their empires and their power until they were nothing more than a shadow of their former selves. A massive rift between the Immaterium and Materium consumes the Crone worlds and forms the dreaded warp storm known as the Eye of Terror.

-10.000 B.I.C: The Humanity's own empire is in ruins; only the Sol System remains of their once mighty power. Society falls into disarray and later, civil war.

-10.000-1.500 B.I.C: The civil war tears the society apart until Terra is the only bastion of Human life left in the system (the warp storms played a part in the mess).

-1.500 B.I.C: During the civil war, there have been many leaders who tried to reunite their race together but have always failed without proper support of the people. However, hope it seems appears to be waiting in the future for the Human race.

-1.200 B.I.C: Soon, rumors of a mighty leader began to appear around the world. A leader, many said, that is in the process of uniting countries and groups together under one banner referred as the Imperium of Humanity and is referred as the God-Emperor. While there were a few cases where he needed to fight to convince people to join him, most of the time he used skilled diplomacy to convince others to join his cause peacefully. He also brought his Imperial Truth- where science and logic is what dictates our lives, not blind faith or religion. The Imperial Truth is widely accepted by everyone.

-1.050 B.I.C: Finally, the God-Emperor had united the human race on Terra into a single nation as he always hoped for. With that, he begins the arduous process of restoring Humanity's power once again, determined to never let it fall again while he breaths.

-1.050-1 B.I.C: The God-Emperor, along with his people, begins the process of repairing their nation and homeworld.

-1 Imperial Calendar (I.C): The forming of the Imperium of Humanity is finally finished and its people ready to expand into the stars once again.

-1-50 I.C: Humanity begins to recolonize the Sol System and repair many of the ancient cities on Mars, Luna (the moon), Venus, and the Jovian moons (Jupiter's moons).

-50 I.C: The Sol System is soon returned to its pre-fall status. Human expansion temporarily stops for the moment (the warp storms still continued). The Emperor has scientists work on a new FTL-drive and other technologies to better face the dangers in the galaxy. He and many others were fully aware of just what was waiting for them on the other side of the warp storm surrounding their home system.

-50-100 I.C: After years of research, scientists present to the Imperium their greatest discovery: a new FTL system called Slipspace that is separate to the warp. The technology is quickly mass-produced and implanted into any existing ships.

-150 I.C: After over 10,150 years trapped in their own star system, the warp storms finally begin to clear up and allow for clear traveling (it was unknown if slipspace could travel through a warp storm safely). It is soon discovered that particular human pyskers with special genes are able to perceive the warp and with slipspace in use (slipspace works on similar principles like the Immaterium, just far less chaotic and safer), it's an easy task for them to guide ships. These set of humans are referred as Navigators and they are soon given the position of guiding ships through slipspace.

-150-2.000 I.C: The Imperium of Humanity begins to expand onto other star systems. The Imperial military, the Mechanicus, and other organizations are created along with the government. Most worlds the humans colonize contain ancient Human cities while some had alien structures that are added to the living layout. During the travels, certain pyskers tasked by the Emperor himself set up psionic shields throughout newly colonized space to ward off the influences of the warp, which proves successful. The Imperium begins to enjoy an age of discovery, exploring, and inventions. The Imperium size is roughly 4 Segmentums. However, in 285 I.C the Imperium comes in contact with a race know as the Orks. Minor conflicts erupt against each other (the Imperium doesn't consider the orks a 'civilized race'). The conflicts fortunately don't threaten peace.

-2.100 I.C: The peace held in the Imperium starts to degrade by increasing ork WAAAAGGHHs and with a group of people demanding that the government gives them full rights and self-governing like in the old-Earth nations and to keep Humanity "pure" by eliminating pyskers and outlawing augment implants. That idea is shot down by the Council of High Lords and the Emperor himself, as they are fully aware of how weak the Imperium of Humanity would become if such an action occurs.

-2.200 I.C: The protests from the group now identified as the Insurrectionists first started peaceful but it started to become violent until the breaking point came with the rebels attempted to overthrow the government on Hive world Krieg in a bloody revolution that resulted in parts of the planet nuked with billions of deaths and several hive cities destroyed. This action causes rebellions to break out throughout space. The government orders the arbiters and PDF forces to keep order and put down the rebels.

-2.322 I.C: Things were looking grim to the government as the news reported that the situation with the rebels wasn't improving. It was at this moment, that a group of veteran Imperial Marines petitioned to High Command of the Imperial Military and the government of forming an elite special forces of shock troopers trained for fast tactical attacks directly in enemy lines. Having no other ideas on how to deal with the rebels, the idea was quickly approved and preparations were made.

-2.378 I.C: The newly made Special Forces branch of the Imperial Ground Forces is made with their main special forces: Helldiver Shock Troopers. The new HDSTs are then deployed into rebel-controlled regions.

-2.397 I.C: With the introduction of the HDSTs, the rebels are slowly pushed back but so far are still kicking. The Imperium becomes increasingly frustrated with how to deal with the rebels. It wasn't until a brilliant scientist named Dr. Catherine Halsey comes up with the idea of training super-soldiers with the best augments and armor the Imperium has. She explains that they can use augments of the most advanced including some of the Emperor's own genetics. Her project is given green light.

-2.411 I.C: Within the keeps of the fable Imperial Palace on the Himalayan Mountains, the Emperor, Dr. Halsey and other scientists succeed in birthing 21 young babies codenamed: Primarchs, to become mankind's greatest future soldiers. Then came the question to the group on how to best raise them seeing as they were technically the Emperor's own sons (and the Emperor admitted he wasn't the greatest father). It is then decided to give them to the most prominent families in the Imperium to raise them with the heart of a human.

-2.412 I.C: The young Primarchs are given to qualified families with each requested to raise them in the best of their ability of what it means to be truly human.

-2.435 I.C: After numerous years have past by, the Emperor and his legendary Custodes, go forth around the Imperium of Humanity to reunite his sons together after having all of them growing up and learning separately.

-2.438 I.C: After uniting all 21 of his sons, he tells them their origins, importance and how their genetics are crucial to forming their own legions of super-soldiers to carry mankind's wrath and uphold peace and justice. They all agreed with pride and proudness of a son to his father.

-2.452 I.C: The first members of the 20 newly formed legions begin their training alongside their Primarchs.

-2.488 I.C: The first completed Spartan Astartes along with their Primarchs are sent out to destroy the strongest rebel cells.

-2.512 I.C: The actions of the Spartans have resulted in the near-eradication of the rebel cells with the survivors going quiet to avoid conflict. The program is considered a major success and plans to increase their numbers are approved and making them official.

-2.512-2.524 I.C: The Imperium rebuilds the damages caused by the conflicts between the rebels and Imperial forces.

-2.525 I.C: With the rebels down, the Imperium begins to focus on foreign problems (like the orks) and continuing colonization/expansion. The Imperium is soon able to keep the number of ork WAAAAGGHHs down to satisfying level.

-2.525-3.524 I.C: The Imperium of Man begins to slow down on expansion and focus more on existing colonies that need improvement.

-3.524 I.C: Agents of the Officio Agente, Sectium Xenos are beginning to worry of running into the borders of another alien empire and causing conflict (seeing that the number of alien ruins discovered were increasing and that orks don't count in their books). However, before they can write a report on it, Agri-world Harvest goes dark all of the sudden.

-3.525 I.C: Contact with an alien empire called the Covenant of the Mantle occurs. They declare humanity 'unworthy' of the Precursor's gift (much to the confusion of the Imperium) and declare war for reasons unknown. The military and PDF forces are put on high alert and war preparations are set.

-3.528 I.C: After tensions were held, reports come in with news that Hive world Canis IV and Garden worlds Halima and Juldia are under attack by Covenant forces. After a quick meeting, the government unanimously declares a full war between the Imperium of Humanity and the Covenant of the Mantle.

++End of File++

++Please look for another file to continue++

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><p><strong>Criticism would be very welcoming (not too harshly, I'm new so cut me some slack)<strong>

**I would soon be uploading the codex's for the Imperium of Humanity and the Covenant of the Mantle.**

**Until next time! **


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm back guys!**

**So here is Chapter 2 of the story.**

**Again I don't own Halo or Warhammer 40k, they belong to their respective owners.**

**Enjoy! **

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><p><strong>Battle of Corverus:<strong>

_Thought of the Day:_

_Though our tanks and artillery are mighty, it is the vast ranks of the Imperial Army that shall trample the enemy to dust-let them come._

_-Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed_

++Alert! Priority message sierra-5B8 level to High Command++

++Processing Message…/++

++Process completed++

++Opening message for the eyes of High command member's only++

++This is Commodore Lydian Raider of Battle group Ontario to high command. Covenant of the Mantle forces are attacking the Core world Corverus and my fleet won't hold out forever and prevent them from making planet fall. I need reinforces to defeat them and I need them now++

++End of message++

++Processing answer of High Command to Admiral Raider++

++This is Lord of Admirals Terrance Hood. Squadron Fleet Memphis is on its way to reinforce your position with the 2nd and 4th Corps of the 2nd Corverus Army along with the 1st Division of the Corverus Marines. Accompanying the squadron are elements of the Aurora Chapter of the Ultraspartans Legion. Try to hold out as long as possible and prevent any of those scums from so much as setting a finger on one of our worlds. Ave Imperium++

++Sending message…Message sent++

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><p><strong>Core World Corverus<strong>

**System Holderus**

**3.531 I.C**

"FIRE THE NOVA CANNON!"

The bridge shook as the Oberon-Battlecruiser _Wraithful_ fired its main weapon at a Covenant of the Mantle CCS-Cruiser. The cruiser's shield flared up in blue as it tried to stop the round but ultimately was a futile attempt as the round punched through the shield and smashed into the prow of the ship and exploded. The resulting explosion destroyed the entire front section of the ship, leaving behind a dead husk without its frontal area. It proceeded to drift along the battlefield along with many other wrecks of ships with more joining the ever-growing graveyard.

"Redirect the starboard macrocannons to cover the _Endless Shadow _and _Forever Faithful_. Those destroyers are tearing them apart!" Bellowed the voice of Commodore Lydian Raider across the bridge. The Commodore was a tall man with brown hair and slightly dark skin with a stature that conveyed authority. At over 273 years, he'd seen his share of battles and campaigns that turned him into a hardened leader. Now it seems that he would need to draw up all his skills if he hoped to win this battle.

"Yes sir!" Answered one of the naval personal at the controls. He proceeded to type commands in the screen.

"Set our torpedoes to destroy that CSO-Carrier before it can attempt to break through our lines," ordered the Raider.

"Apologies, but most of the torpedo tubes are reloading and the ones ready will only damage its hull," informed Captain Delius Telco from his command chair. Like every captain in the Imperial Navy, Telco sat interred with his ship to better coordinate it with the machine spirit. Captaining this ship since it was commissioned over 250 years ago, the captain and the ship make an excellent team when combating foes.

"How long then till they're done? I need them up and ready for fire," asked Raider.

The captained had the look of strain on his face. "In a few minutes or so. Depending if the enemy would slow their rate of fire at us."

The bridge suddenly shook as the ion shield blocked a trio of plasma torpedoes from hitting the ship.

"Sir!" Cried a personal. "Ion shield readings are at 52%. Enemy fire is coming in too much for the shields to charge quickly."

"Doesn't seem like the enemy would let us have that chance," retorted Raider. He turned to one of the communication officers. "What's the status of the fleet?"

The officer cleared his throat. "The readings indicate that the fleet is at 60% strength and steadily lowering. Many of the surviving ships are suffering heavy damages and report that they won't last much longer in battle. Last report said…" the officer seemed to hesitate.

"That what?" Inquired Raider.

"That one of our Avedon-Light Carriers is destroyed and other one is venting and won't last long much longer, sir," answered the officer.

Raider cursed under his breath. Every since the larger enemy fleet jumped in and struck his group with the element of surprise. He had lost quite a number of good ships and the fleet was starting to feel the pressure of those losses. Not to mention most of the defense stations were floating tombs or scrap. Unless the reinforces sent by High Command arrived in time, his forces would end up being overrun by the enemy and free to do with the planet his fleet was currently defending as they see fit. They couldn't retreat without condemning the world and they couldn't stay without risking annihilation.

The windows in the bridge quickly polarized as a Marathon-Cruiser exploded into a new star after being torn apart by particle cannons from a CSV-Battlecruiser. The _Wraithful's_ lance batteries proceeded to fire on the enemy ship until it was forced to retreat from receiving heavy damage.

He was about to give an order to his fleet to try and form new battle lines when he heard a cry through the neural-link.

"_Alert! That Emperor-accursed CSO-carrier broke through our lines and is currently making planet fall. We can't close the gape fast enough and the other ships are…Aaaauggghhh…" _

The link immediately went dead, signaling that the user was killed. Through the link's information, Raider saw that it was the captain of the Strike Cruiser _Storm Bringer_ that made the announcement and was shortly killed when his ship took a direct hit in its plasma reactor.

However, he was mostly focusing on the revelation that Covenant forces had succeeded on breaking through his lines and started planet fall. Fortunately for them, he had made the decision when they arrived here before to send down the fleet's ground forces on the planet where they were better off than on these crapped hulls.

But first, he needed to calm down the captains of the battle group before things got out of hand.

Closing his eyes and extending his neural-link into the fleet link, the effort and time would have been easier if he was a pysker but alas, he is one of the few 'untouched' humans left in the Imperial Navy. The chatter from the battle group was almost overwhelming the moment he entered.

"…_My ship needs backup…"_

"…_War Horn has been destroyed! We need…"_

"…_We're being outflanked on our…"_

"…_Where are our reinforcements? They…"_

"…_PDF Corverus Command reports enemy…"_

Gathering himself, Raider lets out a single shout. _**"Enough!"**_

The fleet link immediately fall silent as the shout from their commodore vibrated through their links. What went from a constant shout of news was quickly replaced with an eerie silence that was occasionally interrupted with a captain's death.

Taking a moment to compose himself, he began speaking. _"Yelling at each other like that will not get any of us anywhere and will certainly not win us this battle. Now before anything else can happen, I hereby order Battle Group Ontario and the PNDF ships to retreat to the northern pole of the planet."_

As he expected, he was met with a wall of protests with this order from most of the battle group along with the planet's PNDF being the most vocal about it. Steeling himself again, he shouted through the link, _**"Silence!"**_

The link once again became silent from his commanding voice.

"_I understand that many of you don't want to leave most of this world undefended and I really don't want to either, but we don't have much choice with this battle unless we want to be annihilated,"_ Raider spoke with a grim voice. _"We will not however, leave the planet to its doom, by retreating to the polar regions, we will be putting a safe distance from the enemy fleet while at the same time making sure we're still close to carry out strikes on their forces. We'll continue with this tactic until reinforcements arrive within a few hours at most. Is that understood?"_

Receiving a chorus of 'yes commodore' from the captains, Raider allowed himself a moment of rest before relaying his orders throughout the battle group.

"You know, it really wasn't necessary to yell through the link with me being close to you to hear most of the force and suffer through it," stated Captain Telco. "I'm quite certain that I've lost 8.5% of my hearing from your first shout alone."

Raider rolled his eyes from the comment. "Quite complaining Telco, this wouldn't be your first time that a superior officer yelled with you nearby.

"True, but none of them have ever yelled as loud as you did in the link," pointed out Telco.

"Enough talking, have the _Wraithful_ move with the rest of the battle group so we can prep ourselves," ordered Raider as he walked to the front of the bridge with a full view of the planet as the ship moved towards the northern pole. Also gathering there were the remaining orbital stations that survived the initial onslaught. "The ground forces are on their own for the moment. Lets hope they can last better than we did."

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><p><strong>Core World Corverus<strong>

**Hysandi City**

**3.531 I.C**

The mood in the headquarters of the PDF wasn't happy. To say that it was bad would have been an understatement; the mood was a whole level of frustration and anxiety for the high officers.

"This is UNBELIEVABLE!" Shouted Lord Castellon Arius Nasser of the Corverus PDF forces in the command room. "The commodore really believes that we can hold out against a Covenant of the Mantle forces ourselves? He must be more naive than I thought."

"With all due respect sir, his fleet was outnumbered and outmatched without a clear victory unless he sacrificed his entire battle group, which is something we can't afford to risk," pointed out High Colonel Asker Furrom of 'Steel' Division, representing the Imperial forces in this region of the planet. "His battle group will continue the fight albeit with less effect."

Arius snorted at that comment. "Less effect or not, there's still the matter of an enemy fleet preparing to invade this world. And I have no intention of letting this happen while I breath." He turned around to face one of his officers.

"Colonel Vespar, what's the ET of the invasion force along with their landing zone?"

"The ET of the Covenant forces is suspected to be around 2 hours while for their landing zone, they appear to heading for the Kadar Mountains," responded Vesper.

"Sneaky bastards," muttered another officer in the room.

Vespar nodded his head in agreement. "Indeed, the mountains will allow them to better defend their landing zones from our units. Which is why we've had the foresight of placing mines in many of the potential landing zones to give them one nasty surprise."

"Enough chatting, we need to start deploying our forces to combat our enemy," interrupted Furrom. Turning to a holograph table of the city and the surrounding landscape. He began point to several locations around the city. "We're going to need to stop them here and there in order to denied them access to vital sections of the city."

"My PDF forces can evacuate the citizens and begin fortifying it for the upcoming battle," responded Arius. "In the meantime High Colonel Furrom, your men will take the field and prepare for the Covenant forces."

Furrom nodded his head. "Understood."

The Lord Castellon straightened himself and faced the room. "Gentlemen, I cannot distress the importance of holding out the enemy line until Imperial reinforcements arrive to drive the xenos off. At this moment, it is our priority to hold out as long as we can against the tides of our enemy. Is that understood?" He received an affirmative of nods.

"Good, you have your orders. Return to your positions and prepare for battle."

Outskirts of Hysandi City

Many people would have said that Hysandi is a beautiful city that shines across the landscape when the sun's rays strike the city towers. Unfortunately, that beauty would be ruined by the preparations of war.

"Hurry up and get that heavy bolter set up on the lines ASAP! We need to be done before the covenant get here," shouted a captain to his men.

A shout of 'yes sir' was heard as a group of men began setting up a large gun and linking an ammo chain filled with large shells to it. Similar actions were being done across the defensive line with soldiers setting up gun emplacements and erecting barricades. Behind the men working were all classes of vehicles rolling up to the line and setting down in position with their crews readying themselves. Further behind at the lines, artillery units were locking down and setting their target zones in the designated region where the covenant army was believed to be going through to take the city. While aircraft patrolled the airspace any incoming enemy aircraft that would attempt to bomb the lines.

Watching the men work on the defenses was Force-Commander Signe de Faille of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment of Steel Division, 1st Corps of the 8th Armageddon Imperial Army. Taking in every detail of the defenses with his bionic eye, he made sure that none of his lines were showing any sign of weak points to allow the Covenant to breach through. The last thing he needed was giving the enemy free access to the city.

"Force-Commander Faille!"

The commander turned around to see who called him and saw that it was one of his officers under his command: High-Captain Ulkunov of Kiser Company.

Ulkunov came to attention when he stopped and gave his report, "Sir, we have over 95% of the defenses completed with the rest coming to near completion soon."

Faille nodded his head in acknowledgment, this was certainly good news. However, there was still one bit of information that has been nagging him for a while.

"Any word from command on the approaching speed of the Covenant army?"

The captain thought for split second before answering. "Last Intel of their speed placed their arrival time to about 2 to 3 hours. With our position however, they might end up coming here earlier compared with the other lines."

This time Faille frowned with this piece of information. Learning that his own battle lines will be the first ones to be struck by the covenant meant that his forces would end up taking the brunt of the assault. While the men of Hive world Armageddon were well known for holding the line during battles, he wasn't certain if his men were up to the task of holding off a powerful attack for a while before the reinforcements arrived to finish the job.

Turning back to the Ulkunov, he asked, "is the men aware of this piece of information?"

Ulkunov nodded his head. "The men are fully aware of this. Many are not very happy with this set of news. Some of the positions have been requesting an increase of ammo and gun emplacements."

"If it makes them happy, let them have their ammo captain. I need to have all my men ready and fully equipped."

"At once Force-Commander," saluted Ulkunov before departing to relay the orders.

Turning his head back to continue observing his men making the final touches to the lines, Faille began wondering if his battalion would truly be able to hold of the enemy and buy the reinforcements enough time to arrive and turn the battle in their favor. He knew that if his lines collapsed, the other Imperial defenses would have no choice but to fall back to avoid being cut off and surrounded.

Before he can muse anymore, he heard his vox begin crackling as it activated.

_+Force-Commander Faille! Urgent message from the Corverus High Command! You're needed at the division's command station for a war meeting+_ Spoke an officer Faille guessed from the regiment's communication group.

Faille had a quick look of surprise on his face. The division's High Colonel was calling a war meeting with all the officers? It might mean that there has been a drastic change in the progress of the enemy or command's orders. Either way, he knew that he had to leave for the meeting as soon as possible.

Composing himself, he quickly replied in his vox, "Thanks for bringing this to my attention quickly. I will proceed to the station as soon as I can."

Faille walked to his assigned Warthog vehicle and ordered the driver to take him to the division's command station.

Hysandi City, Steel Division's Command Center

Faille entered the crowded command room filled with other ranking officers of the Steel Division. He noted that many of the officers had looks of impatience or frustration from the lack of information given to them when they were called up.

A coughing sound was heard over the chatter of the officers as everyone became slowly quieted and looked at their superior officer, High Colonel Furrom.

Waiting till he had everyone's attention, he began, "many of you are probably wondering why I called you up here when you should still be in the front lines with your men. Well, an hour ago, scouts brought me some urgent news that required me to call all of you up to discuss.

A voice broke out of the silent crowd. "What kind of news would require you to call all of us to this station? Faille noted that the voice came from Major Kelderos, the officer in charge of the 3rd Regiment.

Furrom grunted at that question. "I was about to get there." He proceeded to activate the holograph table. "Just an hour ago, one of the scout squads that I sent forth to observe the enemy movement came back with a look of panic on their expressions and carrying vital news."

Many of the officers looked at each other with uncertainty. Furrom ignored this as he continued.

"From what I was able to gather from the scouts, it appears that our Intel on the Covenant forces was off."

The room suddenly became very quiet that one could hear a pin drop on the floor.

"Ou-our Intel was off?" An officer from the 4th Regiment stuttered in shock.

Furrom nodded his head grimly. "It appears so. It appears that the covenant numbers are greater than we previously thought."

Another officer spoke up. "So that means we're heavily outnumbered?"

Furrom grunted at that question. "Unfortunately, yes."

Numerous mutters of curses and swears were heard in the room as the officers processed the news.

"However…" Furrom continued, "That doesn't change the fact that we need to inc-"

"High Colonel Furrom!" A communication officer ran into the room with a look of sheer panic. "News from command! The Covenant's vanguard forces will be here in half-an-hour, sir!"

"What?!" Exclaimed Furrom, along with all the officers. "That's impossible. Our Intel calculated that they wouldn't arrive no later than two hours! How did that change?"

"No idea sir. Many suspect that they cloaked their advance force to get closer without detection."

"Damnit!" Furrom slammed his fist on the table, causing slight cracks to appear. Turning around to face his officers, he began barking orders, "New orders men: head back to your posts and get all soldiers at FULL ALERT by the next 10 minutes! Understood?"

"SIR YES SIR!"

Outskirts of Hysandi City (15min later)

An alarm soon began to ring out to warn the defenders of the approaching enemy. Currently, the lines soon became a source of organized chaos as soldiers ran everywhere to there assigned positions while the officers were busy shouting orders to motivate their men to move faster.

First-Corporal Jask was checking his hellrifle for the third time to make sure everything was working properly. Last thing he needed was the gun to all of a sudden to jam for no good reason during a firefight in a crucial moment.

"Hey Jask."

Jask lifted his head and smiled when he saw one of his squad mates, Private Castorin sitting down with him.

"Hey Castorin."

Castorin turned back to Jask after sitting down. "You nervous for upcoming battle? Cause I'm nervous as hell."

Jask chuckled at the remark his friend made. "Of course, this would be our first battle against the covenant. Who in the world would not be nervous?"

"Xiander would say no about nervousness," pointed out Castorin.

"That's because he brags that he's not afraid of anything."

"Mmmm…point taken."

All of a sudden, a warhorn was heard as it rang across the landscape.

Jask stopped what he was doing and listened to the horn. A few minutes went by before he spoke with a grim voice. "They have arrived."

"Then let us go forth and greet them." Castorin responded with a determined expression.

Both soldiers stood and began marching to the battle lines and taking their places. Along the lines, similar actions were mimicked as the men waited for the enemy.

Finally they could see them. Lines of bodies and machine stretching across the landscape with no apparent ending. The Covenant of the Mantle has come to wage war and the Imperium of Humanity was more than happy to grant it.

At the covenant lines, a lone Sangeili wearing crimson armor walked in front of the lines. The markings and design of the armor marked the Sangeili as a Field Marshal. Taking one look at the Imperial lines, he turned back to his lines and bellowed a war cry with a raised blade. The Covenant followed suit and began charging at the Imperial lines.

Many soldiers gripped their weapons at the sight of their enemy charging. Some became surprised by the appearance of Force-Commander Faille walking to the lines with a plasrifle in his right hand and the regiment's standard in the other.

He turned around to face his men while holding the standard proudly in the wind. "Men! Arm your weapons!"

The sound of guns cocking in readiness was music to Faille's ears. He began his speech. "Soldiers of the Imperium! Today is the day that the fate of Corverus is decided! The day we either rise triumph over the corpses of our foes or fall to the their chants of war! But we will never stop. Never retreat. Never cower. Never finish a fight until one is still standing!" A roar of approval came from the ranks of the Imperial.

Pointing is plasma gun to the incoming covenant forces, he continued, "They dare came to our worlds and burn them to show their superiority over us. But we will not let that effect us. If they strike us down, we get up and return it tenfold! If they cut off one of our arms off, we beat them to death with our other one! If they break our blades, we stab them with the jagged piece! If they burn us to crisp, we _melt_ them to liquid! For we are the Hammer of the Imperium of Humanity and we will not show fear or weakness to the enemies of Man! For we fight for Honor, Justice, Glory and above all, Peace! Men and Women of the Imperial Army, we fight for our families, our people and our Emperor!

Faille proceeded to raise the standard high as the Covenant mass came closer to the line. "We March to War! For the **Imperium of Humanity! OPEN FIRE WITH OUR WRAITH!**

With a roar capable of shaking a mountain, the Imperials aimed their weapons with fire in their eyes and fired.

* * *

><p><strong>I know, a cliffhanger. You guys are probably cussing at me for doing this.<strong>

**Criticism**** is welcomed (again, not harshly)**

**Well, this is Chapter 2, the next one will coming up and I will be soon loading up the first codex for the Imperium of Humanity!**

**Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Back again guys!**

**Here's the next chapter of Galaxia's Wars.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Battle of Corverus II<strong>

_Quote of the Day:_

_What is the strongest weapon of mankind? The war-machines of the Mechas? No! The Spartan Astarte Legions? No! The tank? The lascarbine? Not at all! Courage and courage alone stands above them all!_

_-Lord Marshal Solar Macharius from his writings_

* * *

><p><strong>Slipspace transit to Core World Corverus<strong>

**Squadron Fleet Memphis**

**Retribution-battleship **_**Starfall**_

**3.531 I.C**

Slipspace is considered one of the most bizarre things that exist in the universe itself. A seven-dimension space existing between the Materium and the Immaterium where the Laws of Physics do not apply and where time is almost meaningless there. Making it an excellent form of FTL travel in the fastest, most efficient form possible. And at this moment, Rear-Admiral Charker was becoming increasingly impatient with the speed of his squadron fleet in slipspace.

"Can't you have the fleet move any faster to reach our destination sooner than later?" The Rear-Admiral asked for what might be the 50th time so far to the helmsman of the ship.

High Navigator Sephelium carried a scowl on a face from the question. Like any Navigator, he wore a psychic hood specialized for enhancing the sight of a navigator through both slipspace or warp space and a psionic staff denoting his rank of High Navigator: navigators responsible for guiding a fleet-size armada through FTL space. "This is as fast as we can go unless you can get the tech engineers to pull of a miracle with the engines, Rear-Admiral. Other than that, the fleet is still at maximum speed."

"I'd still prefer to arrive at Corverus before it's too late."

"My job is to guide ships to their destination, not fix their speed. If you want to go faster, go tell the magos about it," retorted Sephelium rather harshly from his frustration. It was challenging enough for him to navigate the fleet without someone bugging him about something he can't change.

Sighing a bit, Charker shifted through his neural-link to find Magos Kyllore and see if he had any success with the engines.

"_Magos Kyllore? Do you copy?"_

The link was silent before a response came through. _"Yes I hear you now Rear Admiral,"_ came the raspy voice of the Magos of the Mechanicus aboard.

"_Any success with convincing the machine spirit to get the engines to move faster?"_

A sigh could be heard coming from the Mago's side of the link. _"The machine spirit of the Starfall tells me that he has the engines pushing at max speed and is unsure whether the risks of blowing up the engines outweighs the chance of shorter time."_

"_So that's a no?"_The Rear-Admiral asked with hints of disappointment in his voice.

"_Not unless you want this ship to arrive as dust particles and the rest of the squadron scattered from the disruption. After all, the fleet is following the slipspace wake of the battleship and we all know what can happen if that wake is disrupted."_

Charker knew all to well what can happen in a slipspace wake if disrupted before arrival. Best case scenario is the fleet gets scattered at the destination with his flagship broken into dust. Worst case is only a handful of ships make it in one piece _and_ scattered while the rest either are crushed to either cube-sizes, implode, flung through space time or find themselves somewhere else in the galaxy. A fate many captains and admirals would prefer to avoid at all costs.

"_Very well then. We'll stick with our current speed. Charker out."_

"_Magos out."_

Tearing himself out of the link, he turned back to the front of the bridge but then stopped when he felt a certain feeling. He wasn't the only to feel it as all activity in the bridge stopped upon feeling this sense. If there one thing being a pysker meant that you could feel anything violent through the empyrean and right now that's what the bridge, if not the entire fleet is feeling at this moment.

Charker turned to the captain of the _Starfall_. "Captain, what does the machine spirit feel?" He spoke with bit of nervousness and uncertainty in his voice.

The captain appeared to be in deep thought as he conversed with the _Starfall's _machine spirit until he opened his eyes, "He tells me that he can't see anything largely threatening in the scanners that poses a risk to the fleet. Although there is something out there but he can't pinpoint it."

Turning to face the High Navigator for an answer, all he got from him was silence as the navigator faced the windows with the swirling dark purple color of slipspace filling the view. He suddenly grabbed his head with one hand while holding his staff to support himself as he groaned in pain.

His action alarmed the bridge as several crewmen went up to assist him. He instead waved them off before gathering himself and shouting one word no crewmen would ever want to hear in their service years: **"DAEMONS!"**

* * *

><p><strong>Core World Corverus<strong>

**Outskirts of Hysandi City**

**3.531 I.C**

The entire Imperial lines erupted in flashes of flame and light as the shots traveled into the mass of charging Covenant. Just as they were about to strike the mass, massive energy fields flared up and soaked the hits meant for the soldiers instead. This however didn't discourage the Imperials from throwing more firepower at the shields in an attempt to collapse them.

The artillery emplacements quickly joined in the sound of Imperial guns firing off as they added their strength in shattering the shields. With the added firepower, the Imperial line was able to succeeded in breaking the energy shields. Immediately after destruction of the shields, the Covenant forces unleashed a wave of plasma and energy weapons into the Imperial lines. Both sides continued to dish out devastating damage to each other as the distance separating them decreased quickly.

With a final roar, the Covenant forces threw themselves into the Imperial lines with the hisses of energy blades and the whining of hammers while the Imperial responded with the gutter roar of chainswords and the crackling energy of power blades.

What started as a tactical battle quickly devolved into savage close-quarters fighting. The air soon became filled with the screams and the cries of the dying combined with the clashing of melee weapons.

Lance-Corporal Alexandria ducked under the swing of an energy blade from a Major Domo and retaliated with a strike from his chainsword into the Sangheili's chest armor. The armor collapsed under the chainsword's monocular teeth as it grinded into the victim's body. With a mangled cry, the Sangheili fell dead as Alexandria tore his weapon from the body and quickly parried a blow meant for his head from a Minor Domo.

He swung his weapon at the Sangheili's head but was deflected by an energy sword. Alexandria quickly brought his foot out to kick his opponent in his leg to immobilize him.

The Minor apparently knew of that trick because he struck with lightening speed in Alexandria's abdominal, knocking the air out of lungs and kicked him down before he could recover.

Alexandria looked up at his opponent readying his blade to deliver the final blow. _'Seems like this is the end for me.'_ He mused to himself as the Sangheili brought the blade down.

Before the blade could connect, the sounds of a laser weapon going off along with the death cries of the Minor Domo occurs in seconds. Alexandria turns his head sharply to see his savior is none other than Veteran-Sergeant Veyron. The battle-hardened veteran stood with his power sword in his right hand while holding a laspistol in the other.

Alexandria jumped upon hearing the voice of the veteran, "Well, are you going to get up or are you going to continue laying around as a battle rages around us, Lance-Corporal?" The veteran spoke with an unamused expression on his face.

Alexandria quickly picked himself up while grumbling to himself. He found his chainsword laying next to him and checked for any damages. Satisfied with its state, he turned back to Veyron for directions.

The Veteran-Sergeant beckoned the Lance-Corporal towards the battle, "Lets not tarry and return to the battle. We need to stop the vanguard form breaking our lines."

"Yes sir!"

"C'mon then," Veyron began running towards the fighting with Alexandria trailing behind him. They passed several burning husks of former Imperial vehicles destroyed early in the battle and when Covenant forces breached though a few lines until reaching the trenches where several Covenant warriors were finishing butchering a squad.

The veteran proceeded to jump into the trenches while cutting down 3 Unggoys from his laspistol. The action however got the attention of a Sangheili and two Kig-Yars who were in front of the Unggoys.

Veyron quickly snapped his laspistol up and fired several consecutive shots at the closest Kig-Yar until it's shields collapsed and a single beam shot found its head and instantly killed it before it body hit the ground.

At the same time, Alexandria charged with a burst of speed at the other one and with a yell, brought his chainsword down on the Kig-Yar, bisecting him in half, "Die you foul xeno!"

Ignoring the young soldier, Veyron ran with his power sword crackling with energy at the lone Sangheili whose armor indicated him as a Minor Onou. Pointing his blade at the Sangheili, he challenged him, "Bring your blade out and fight me to a battle of glory and honor."

The Major Onou activated his own energy sword in response and held it in a challenging pose. Seconds passed as both sides looked at each other for a moment before rushing at each other in a flash and clashing their blades together. They held their blades together before Veyron shoved the Onou back and quickly delivered a backstroke strike at his opponent who deflected and retaliated with forward stab. The Veteran-Sergeant knocked the strike aside with his gauntlet and performed a vertical cut that would separate the Sangheili's head. The Onou ducked under the blow and brought his blade in an uppercut strike that the veteran barely dodged with millimeters to spare. Veyron could see in his HUD how much of his shields are left after blocking the searing heat of the energy blade. He instantly spun around as fast as his augmentations and skills can allow and delivered a horizontal strike that came too fast for the Onou to stop. The Sangheili cried in pain as the graviton field of the power sword cut through his armor and flesh easily, effectively cutting him in half. The entire fight lasted less than a minute.

Raising his blade to honor his opponent for the fight, he calmly turned around to see the Lance-Corporal stare at him with wide eyes as his jaws attempted to form words. The Veteran-Sergeant guessed that the entire duel happened pretty fast for the younger human to witness even with augmented eyes. While it was amusing to see the expression on the his face, Veyron knew that tallying around meant more time for the Covenant to break through and become closer to Hysandi City.

Deciding to break the silence now, he spoke, "Snap out of that silly expression of yours and get your act together, Lance-Corporal! The battle won't be won with you not doing anything." He spun around and began jogging through the trench lines towards the sound of fighting.

Alexandria quickly broke out of his stupor and cursed to himself for making a fool out of himself in front of a veteran during a battle and started following the veteran.

As they progressed deeper into the lines, they soon began coming across corpses of fallen Imperial soldiers and Covenant warriors. Along the way, Alexandria picked up a discarded lascarbine as he only had a melee weapon and didn't want to fall himself in a situation where he might get stuck fighting enemies that can shoot him at a distance while he can't return the favor.

After what felt like an hour of wandering through the trenches while artillery flew over their heads they came across a squad pinned down under a decurion of Covenant warriors.

Apparently someone of the pinned squad noticed their presence because not a few seconds later their voxes begin taking a signal. _+Can you hear us? Is this damn thing working?+ _

"This Veteran-Sergeant Veyron of 3rd Platoon, Kiser Company. To whom am I speaking to?" Answered Veyron in his vox.

_+This First-Corporal Abevar of Tactical Squad Beta, 1__st__ Platoon, Uber Company. But I would prefer less talking and more shooting xenos. Can you give us a little hand?+_

"Sure can First-Corporal, Veyron out." Turning to the Lance-Corporal, he pointed to a section of the trench that collapsed. "Go over there to provide firing support and wait for my signal."

Alexandria saluted at his superior, "Yes sir." He quietly started moving to the chosen area and wait for the signal.

Veyron waited until the corporal was ready and quickly broke out of cover shouting, "NOW!" and firing his laspistol at the targets with deadly accuracy. Alexandria joined in with the lascarbine and taking down more enemies. Caught between two forces, the entire decurion was wiped out quickly before they could properly react.

There was sudden silence accompanied with the sounds of heavy fighting in the background until it was broken with a 'clear' shout and the sound of bodies moving. The two soldiers walked up towards the approaching remains of Beta Squad. Veyron made a quick inspection of the squad a saw that only three remained of what was once a 6 men strong squad. The survivors carried marks of recent fighting and looked haggard. "What's your status?"

The one who must have been First-Corporal Abevar on the vox stood at attention, "Sir, there are only 3 of us out of the 6 men when this battle started." Indicating to the two men behind him. "This is Corporal George and other is Lance-Corporal Onalaska. We may be a little worn out but we're still capable of fighting well enough."

Acknowledging them with a nod, Veyron introduced themselves, "I'm Veteran-Sergeant Veyron and my companion here is Lance-Corporal Alexandria."

Veyron noticed that Corporal George was armed with a hellrifle and laspistol as a sidearm. Lance-Corporal Onalaska was equipped with a bolt rifle, laspistol and a shatter shotgun while First-Corporal Abevar carried a plasrifle, laspistol, and a chainsword. _'Good, they will have the necessary support to make our fights easier.'_ He mused to himself.

"Any word of the battle lines?" Veyron asked to the First-Corporal.

Abevar frowned a bit upon hearing the question. "Last I heard on the vox, the eastern lines was collapsing under extreme pressure while the center and western lines have multiple breaches. High Colonel Furrom has ordered the division to fall back to the support lines."

"But that's the final defense before the city itself!" Exclaimed Alexandria. "We'll be giving the Covenant easier time to reach the city."

Abevar glared at the Lance-Corporal. "It's not like we want that to happen. The front lines are barely holding the tide and that's just the vanguard. The main army hasn't even arrived yet!"

The conversation was quickly interrupted by their voxes. _+Warnings to all units. If you are still fighting in the front lines, get the hell out of there NOW! The main Covenant army has arrived and command has declared the areas concerning the front lines a death zone. Fall back to the final defenses. I repeat…+_ Silence dominated the group until one of the members decided to break it.

"You just had the jinx about the Covenant Army didn't yah? Why do you always have to dare the universe to frak us up in multiple ways?" Responded Lance-Corporal Onalaska to his officer in his most sarcastic tone. "It's like you enjoy doing this."

Abevar groaned from the response. "Onalaska, this isn't the time to fool around! We're in a tight situation."

"Veteran-Sergeant Veyron? What is your command?"

Everyone turned their heads to see that Corporal George was the one who asked the question to the veteran.

Veyron thought to himself for a moment. On one hand, he didn't want to run away while the enemy was knocking on their front doorstep. On the other hand, by staying here, they wouldn't have support, not to mention command declared this area a death zone. Meaning that the entire lines will be bombarded until there is nothing standing in a effort to break the momentum of the approaching Covenant army and hopefully inflict heavy casualties. After a few more minutes, he made his decision.

"Men," the veteran called out to the gathering group. "I've made my decision. We'll be falling back to the final lines to continue the fight and hopefully halt the army. Understood?" Receiving a chorus of 'yes sir' from the group. Veyron felt it was time to go. "Lets not waste more time and get our sorry asses out of the lines before our artillery mistake us for Covenant targets." With a simple nod, the group began their jogging to the last Imperial lines before the defenses of Hysandi City are left.

Hysandi City, final Imperial Battle Line

The final Battle Line was the Imperials last attempt to halt the Covenant Army in its tracks before the fighting can take place in the city itself. Numerous PDF soldiers of Corverus soon bolster the remnants of Steel Division to help increase the chances of success. Not far away from the lines, the Covenant army slowly approached the lines with caution after suffering losses from mines and the Imperial's Death Zone. Something many soldiers felt grateful about. Both armies faced each other, waiting for one side to make the final move that will decide the course of the battle.

Slowly but increasingly faster, the Covenant Army began to march towards the lines until they went for a full charge. The Imperials responded with a barrage of artillery and thousands of guns firing into the mass. Even as the Covenant dropped in droves from the Imperial's guns, for every Covenant warrior felled, 10 more took his place to keep up the pressure.

A loud 'boom' is heard across the battlefield as a large Covenant CCO-Assault Cruiser appeared in the sky. As quickly as it appeared, Imperial gun batteries in the city fired in full auto at the enemy ship in an attempt to shoot it down. Lasbatteries and mass drives crashed against the shields non-stop until the assault cruiser's shields final gave in. As the shots began penetrating the armor, the cruiser's bays opened and dropped several objects moments before it's sub-light engines pressed the ship back into space. The combating's watched as the objects fell unto the surface with ear-shattering crashes. As the dust settled down, the sight of what came out of the craters struck cold fear into the Imperials and raised the spirits of the Covenant. Rising menacingly from the craters stood 2 Scarab Heavy Assault Walkers and 6 Locust Assault Walkers in all their glory and power.

The lead Scarab let louse a mechanical roar that shook the Imperial's core. It began raising itself on its back legs while the humming sound of charging energy sounded, it suddenly dropped on all four legs and with a metal screech, released the full power of the energy projectile in the mist of its enemies.

* * *

><p><strong>Slipspace transit to Core world Corverus<strong>

**Squadron Fleet Memphis**

**Retribution-battleship **_**Starfall**_

**3.531 I.C**

The reaction of the bridge after hearing the High Navigator's warning was instantaneous.

"RAISE THE GELLAR SHIELDS AT MAXIMUM LEVEL AND HAVE ALL SECUIRITY PERSONEL PUT AT **HIGH ALERT!**" Roared the Rear-Admiral at the bridge personal as if the devil was coming for their souls. Which very well might actually happen if the crew don't get it done in time. The crew jumped to their tasks with utmost haste as the tone of commanding officer made it clear that if they fail, the daemons will be the least of their worries. Not even a second later, a loud alarm began blaring throughout the ship and probably the rest of the squadron.

Shutting his eyes, Charker tore through the neural-link like a firestorm in a dry forest, surprising many of the captains present in the link and scaring a few half to death. Before they could question the Rear-Admiral on why he decided to barge into the link in the most aggressive way, he started shouting orders through the link like a captain who just had his favorite ship wrecked by amateurs and just found out it was used for Sunday flying. _"This fleet is being put into high alert! Daemons have been discovered in our pathway so start gearing up! I want all escorts to set themselves around the transports to protect them from those warp-spawn. Inform the Spartans of Aurora Chapter to gear up. You have your orders, so get to it!"_ He quickly left the link before any of the captains could answer back. Not that they would need to because shortly after he left, the captains began delivering his orders among the fleet.

Charker looked through the holograph of the fleet as the ships began to move into position while the escorts placed themselves as a wall around the troopships for maximum protection. Satisfied with the fleet's position, he turned sharply back to the High Navigator who was currently sporting a massive headache. "High Navigator, how many daemons did you detect?"

Sephelium slowly turned around to face Charker while fighting off the headache the daemons were giving him. "There are around 60-80 or so daemons in our pathway. From what I can tell, they're somehow got themselves stuck in here and right now, we're their ticket out of this place to them and they don't want to miss it. And with us mortals in here, that's bonus for them." He spoke the last part with disgust.

"Mmmm, a number of daemons are something the fleet can handle. But I'm more worried about _what_ daemons are out there."

Sephelium took a moment to think. "Most of the daemons are Bloodletters, while the rest are Daemonettes. All Lesser Daemons, luckily no Greater ones."

Many of the panicking crew officers breathed in relief upon hearing that there was no powerful enemies. It was one thing to fight a Lesser Daemon, but fighting a Greater Daemon is a whole different level that few are keen to try.

Nodding his head at the words, Charker turned to face the Junior Officer of the bridge who was conversing with the captain. Clearing his throat to get his attention, the Junior Officer snapped to attention when he realized who was addressing him.

"What's the status of the ship?" Asked Charker in a serious tone.

The officer stood a little straighter to not make himself look cowered by his superior. "The crew have gone to their designated areas for boarding action and all the ship's security have geared up and have set up choke points, sealed bulkheads and placed themselves in likely areas the enemy will try to enter through, sir."

"Very good. We need to be ready when we cross paths with them." Dismissing the Junior, he walked up to the High Navigator. "Sephelium, how long until we face the daemons?"

"Less than a minute Rear-Admiral," responded Sephelium without facing Charker.

"Rear-Admiral." Spoke the captain. Charker turned to see what the captain wanted to tell him. "The rest of the captains have reported their ships secured and awaiting further orders. Aurora Chapter have heeded your orders and are readying themselves."

Charker was just about to thank the captain until High Navigator's eyes glowed with psychic energy and announced in a telepathic voice that was definitely heard by everyone. _**"Ready yourselves Squadron Fleet Memphis. The Arch-Enemy is approaching now."**_ Concluding his message, he collapsed on a chair one of the crewmen provided to him.

Silence dominated the bridge as they waited for inevitable to arrive. They didn't have to wait to long.

A voice broke the silence in the atmosphere. "Captain! The Gellar Fields are decreasing at a alarming rate!" The ship's Gellar alarm began to blare out the signal of warp beings attacking the fields.

"Divert power from the non-essential systems to the gellar fields," ordered the captain from his command chair.

"Sir! Most of fields around the ship are dangerously coming close to collapsing!" Announced an ensign. Right after he finished, the sound of screeching metal being torn open resounded throughout the ship. The captain suddenly shut his eyes and clenched his teeth from the pain of the ship being breached.

"Levels 9, 15 and 21 are reporting breaching attempts in the hull captain!" Cried a crewman from the screen of a holograph cogitator.

"Cruisers _Dawnlight_ and _Illustria_ are reporting breaching on their hulls and several of the escorts are currently fighting off daemons!"

"This is it now. We need to win this battle or hold off long enough for the squadron to exit slipspace to disrupt their connection. We can't lose this because Corverus is counting on us to arrive in time ready to fight off the Covenant of the Mantle's forces. To battle stations!" Announced the Rear-Admiral as he concluded his speech.

Onboard the Aurora Battle Barge _Metallus_

A lone figure in a darkened room was sitting silent and meditating before the chapter symbol until his silence was interrupted from a rising cogitator that began displaying a holograph message. +Mjolnir Power Armor-Artificer Activating…+

The wall hosting the symbol in front of the figure suddenly opened up as a pair of large servo arms brought forth a suit of armor. The figure stood up and walked to the suit as the walls and floor nearest opened up with more servo arms. Turning around and presenting himself, the whining of the machine is heard as the arms became active and began dissembling the armor and placing it on him as he started reciting a litany.

"_I am the Wrath of Humanity."_ Four servo arms connected the chest and back armor sections together around him.

"_I am the Sword of Justice."_ His arms and legs became covered in armor as several servos attached them together.

"_I am the Angel of Death."_ The shoulder pads, gauntlets, and other specific armor pieces were placed in their respective areas.

"_I am the Bringer of Hope."_ Certain servo arms began the process of locking his armor into one body form.

"_I am…"_ A servo arm slowly lowered a helmet on the figure's head.

"…_The End."_ The sound of the helmet locking in place is heard as the eye lenses activate with a yellowish glow.

The servo arms retract into the panels as the armor began powering up for the battle. A female synthetic voice is heard in the helmet. _"Mjolnir suit is fully activated and ready for action. Are you ready Chapter Master John?"_

The Chapter Master of the Aurora Chapter walked to the other end of the room where a crafted power sword rested in its case. Lifting the blade in the air as it hummed with energy as it sensed the oncoming fight, John replied, "I'm always ready Consocius Cortana."

* * *

><p><strong>There you go.<strong>

**Did you think I would forget about Chief and Cortana? The idea of making him a chapter master was too good to pass up.**

**In case**** you guys are wondering how a spartan astarte looks like, think someone bigger than a spartan but smaller than a space marine. Not too mention less beefy in muscles. And their armor doesn't have ridiculously sized shoulder pads and not that bulky. **

**Oh and the scene at the end, that was inspired from the Grey Knight's trailer of the Lord Inquisitor and the opening scene of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty combined into one scene (hoped you guys liked it)**

**Also adding that the codex for the Covenant of the Mantle might take a little longer than I expected to finish (seriously, its a pain in the ass) so I might bring it in by (hopefully) the end of the week. **

**Until nest Time! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Back again guys!**

**Sorry for the delay, I got caught up with the new game Destiny (not to mention it gave me a lot of ides for new stuff in the story)**

**I do NOT own any of the stuff that belongs to there respective owners blah blah blah whatever (I'm getting tired of repeating this message).**

**On to the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Battle for Corverus III<strong>

_The universe has many horrors yet to throw at us. This is not the end of our struggle. This is just the beginning of our mission to save Humanity. Be faithful! Be strong! Be vigilant!_

_-The God-Emperor prior to the warp storms clearing out and allowing the Imperium of Humanity to finally expand._

* * *

><p><strong>Slipspace transit to Core World Corverus<strong>

**Squadron Fleet Memphis**

**Battle Barge Metallus**

**3.531 I.C**

Chapter Master John calmly walked through the hallway as armed Chapter Praestes moved aside for their commander as he headed for the ship's armory. Reaching the double doors guarded by two armed Praestes, they saluted and opened the doors for him to enter.

Upon entering, he was greeted with rows of weapons from bolt rifles to shatter shotguns and shelves filled with ammunition. Already many other Spartans were busy arming themselves with their proper gear. A very large being even by Astarte standards approaches John whom he knew as Battle Captain Samuel of the elite 1st Company. He was currently garbed in his centurion armor that gave him an intimated appearance.

Stopping in front of his superior, he gave his report of their preparation, "all Spartans are armed and ready to shed the blood of our enemies, Chapter Master," punctuating the statement by lifting his personal modified unegar cannon with ease. Why he would be bringing a _unegar_ cannon in ship-to-ship action, John nor anyone will ever know.

Nodding his head in agreement, John looked around for someone before facing Samuel again. "Captain, where would I find Frederic?"

Samuel turned around and pointed to other side of the armory, "Frederic should be over there preparing himself." John gave his thanks and left Samuel to finish his preparations as he went towards the location of Frederic.

After passing several racks of weapons, he found him. Sitting on a bench while communicating in his vox was Chapter Champion Frederic of the Honor Guards in his crafted Artificer power armor. John waited patiently for the Chapter Champion to finish his conversation with the unknown contact before his presence was noticed. Frederic quickly finished his conversation before switching is vox off and facing John. "Is there anything you need Chapter Master?" Nodding his head, John responded, "just wanting to check with you to see that you and the accompanying Honor Guards are ready for the battle."

Frederic snorted at that remark. "John, while you may be Chapter Master and tend to be the first one ready. We're your bodyguard, as such, we _need_ to be ready before you've even started putting your armor on."

A female voice quipped in the conversation, _"That's what I tell him every time, but he's a bit too stubborn to understand that."_ John groaned from the comment while Frederic smiled at his old friend's annoyance.

"Hello Consocius Cortana. Fancy hearing you annoy the Chapter Master in front of his bodyguards." Frederic spoke with an amused expression on his face.

"_Oh you know me, trying to get a good conversation with everyone while having a good time with my partner. Speaking of which, where's Midnight?"_ Midnight is Frederic's own Consocius of his armor and a good friend of Cortana.

He seemed to be in deep thought before answering, "he should be conversing with Metallus and the rest of the other consocius on how to best deal with the incoming daemons. You should join them before you end up missing out the plans." It was pretty well known among the chapter how Cortana reacts if she misses something important. Least to say, don't be anywhere near her when that that occurs or there'll be lots of regrets later.

"_Those pricks! How dare they start without me? If you guys excuse me, I'm going to give those knuckleheads a PIECE OF MY DATA MIND!_ Cortana immediately switched her connection from the power armor to the neural-link. Both John and Frederic almost felt bad for the machines spirits when Cortana joins them later.

Returning his focus back to the champion for an important question, "whom were you talking to in the vox?"

"I was in contact with Lord General Weller representing the 2nd and 4th Corps of the 2nd Corverus Army and Field General Icarus of 1st Division of the 1st Corverus Marine Corps. They've offered to reinforce our forces with their Terminators," said Frederic.

John nodded his head upon hearing the offer. He knew that the Terminators would greatly quicken the process of clearing out any daemons from boarded ships. "Tell them that we accept their offer. Something tells me that we're going to need their support if we want to flush the warp-spawn faster. Tell Jerome tha-" An alarm interrupted his line as it blared out along with the voice of the captain. **"Attention all Aurora members. The High Navigator has declared throughout the fleet that we have only a few moments before contact. Finish your preparations and ready for combat."** The voice of the captain stopped after delivering the news while the alarm continued.

Frederic looked at John for him to finish his sentence until he waved it off. "Never mind what I was about to say. Get everyone ready so there is no delay." Frederic saluted with right fist in his chest armor before moving on to gather the accompanying Honor Guards.

John marched through the armory as every spartan in the room made their final preparations as he went for his equipment. Finding them on a separate shelve, courtesy of the Armory Chief of Metallus. John picked up his Astarte-crafted bolt rifle and inspected it. The light from the overhead power light made a shine over the custom-made gun. Satisfied with its state, he locked it on the magnetic hold on his back while picking up grenades and extra magazines for his rifle.

He turned back to the assembled Spartans in the room as they waited for their Chapter Master. "Are all of you finished?" Asked John.

Heavy footsteps were heard as something heavy approached the room before a booming voice was heard. **"I am now awake and ready to once again shed the blood of Humanity's enemies with my fury."** All heads turned to the speaker as Venerable Dreadnought Trion of the elite 1st Company entered while flanked by two techmarines. He is the oldest Spartan in the Aurora Chapter as he was one of the first members to form it in 2.339 I.C.

Chapter Master John bowed his head in respect to the ancient warrior along with everyone else. "Venerable Trion. Good to see that you are joining us for the battle. I hope we didn't interrupt any sweet dreams?" Several Spartans chuckled at the chapter master's joke.

The air around the dreadnought shook as he released his own chuckle that sounded very heavy. **"Unfortunately no, but that is something that doesn't matter now.** Taking a moment to inspect the assembled Astartes before returning his gaze back to the chapter master. **"Judging by our assembled brothers, I presume that we'll be facing combat shortly?"**

"Indeed ancient one, we will," answered John. He began marching out of the armory with the rest tailing behind to the War Hall. They soon arrived at the hall and waited for any other of their brothers whom were arriving late. Once every spartan on the ship that weren't staying behind to provide security for the ship arrived, John began speaking. "Warriors of the Aurora Chapter, Soldiers of the Ultraspartans Legion, Sons of the Guilliman. Heed my words." The hall fell silent as they listened to their Chapter Master.

"At this moment as I speak, daemons will be attempting to hijack the fleet in an effort to escape the confinements of slipspace into our reality. That is something we cannot allow to occur, as we need every ship intact if we want to drive the Covenant of the Mantle from Corverus at full strength. It is imperative that we prevent that from happening at all. Is that understood?"

"Yes Chapter Master." Came the resounding echo of multiple voices.

Smiling at the assembled Spartans, John turned to Venerable Trion and indicated him to finish. He had moments ago received a message that the coordinates for their built-in teleporters were set and ready to go.

The floor shook slightly as the dreadnought walked in front of everyone as only the oldest veteran present can say these words. **"What is our Duty?"** The booming voice of the ancient echoed across the hall.

"To Protect the Innocent!" Came the response from the Spartans to Trion's question.

"**What is our Motto?"**

"To never show Fear!"

"**WHAT IS OUR CRY?"**

"DEATH SHALL NOT HAVE US AS WE BREATH!"

"**FOR AS WE MARCH TO WAR!"**

"OUR ENEMIES SHALL TREMBLE IN FEAR!"

"**WE DO NOT DIE IN OUR DUTY!"**

"FOR WE WILL STORM THE GATES OF HELL ITSELF!" The fizzling sound of the teleporters powering up was heard in the background.

"**AND RETURN BACK WITH VENGEANCE!" **The sound of the teleporters warmed up became recognizable to anyone, as the fizzling turned to static as it signaled them ready to be used.

"WHILE CARRYING OUT OUR DUTY ONCE MORE!"

The static soon turned to crackling as the teleporters activated on all the Spartans present in the hall as they became wrapped in electric tendrils. With a resounding 'crack', all the Spartans teleported from the hall.

In the hallways of the Battleship _Starfall_

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" Cried a bloodletter as it hacked a screaming armsman with a bloody axe.

"Kill that bastard NOW!" Shouted Sergeant-at-Arms Huver to the squads under his command. Several armsmen complied as they focused their fire on the chosen bloodletter. The explosive sound of several shatter shotguns firing is quickly replaced with the death scream of the daemon as its body was ripped to shreds from the rounds before it could deliver a death stroke on the dying man. Unfortunately, as another armsman pulled him back in, it became clear that his wounds were too severe and was quickly put out of his misery.

"Keep the line steady!" Huver ordered as he continued firing into the mass of bloodletters as they tried to reach them. "We can't let them get a solid hold in this ship. If that happens, were in trouble." An armsman thrusted his hand forward as his eyes glowed and began muttering words in an old language known only to mankind before launching a psychosis wave at the daemons, vaporizing several.

A bloodletter suddenly whipped out a Fire Whip at several armsmen in an effort to break the line. A few of the men saw the whip coming and were able to duck in time. The same could not be said for the others as their screams were cut off as the whip easily sliced through their carapace armor. Their heads struck the floor before their weapons did. The Bloodletter shouted in glee at the sight of blood and death it caused as it shredded another group of armsmen to pieces with its weapon. Several of its brothers charged in with blazing Hellblades towards the gaps formed in the lines by the lone bloodletter. The armsmen in the front desperately tried to drive back the daemons but soon became overwhelmed as the bloodletters broke through the lines. The armsmen were soon being massacred, as they couldn't fight the daemons of Khorne in close-quarters.

Huver roared in fury as he shoved a chainsword into a bloodletter and activated it. The chainsword's teeth shrieked in savage joy as it chewed through the screaming bloodletter's hide in a gruesome way. He lifted his weapon up and cut the daemon from stomach to head in half. Before he could pull the weapon from the corpse, another daemon jumped at him screaming, "Skulls for the Skull Throne!" Huver only had few seconds to register the daemon's appearance before it cut his blade arm with a blood cry. He shouted in pain as the bloodletter proceeded to cut off his right leg, causing him to collapse onto the floor as he tried to stay conscious.

The bloodletter griped its Hellblade with both hands to deliver the last strike before the sound of crackling was heard. For a split second, the air smelled like burned wool before the hallway exploded in crackling electricity blasts. One of the blast occurred behind Huver as the daemon paused for a moment to grasp on what happened before an armored fist appeared and smashed the face to pulp.

The battle quickly became one-sided as armored Centurions and Terminators teleport into the fight and begins unleashing their devastating firepower at their enemy. The air was filled with the sound of new weapons from the wrist-mounted Storm Bolters firing point-blank to plascannons unleashing their deadly magazine. The sound of fighting quickly died down as the last bloodletter felled with a chunk of its chest missing, courtesy of a bolt round.

The hallway was silent until broken by the panic sound of an armsman who noticed the injured Sergeant-at-Arms lying on the floor. "The Sergeant is down! Medic!" Armsmen scrambled aside as a medic rushed over to the prone form of Huver. The sergeant attempted to sit up before his body racked up in pain and coughed up blood. "Sir, you need to lay down. You're in no condition to start walking around without hurting yourself," informed the medic as he slowly lowered Huver to the floor. The medic quickly pointed to two armsmen, "you two. Inform the Apothecarion that we have severely wounded men and they need medical attention this instant. Understood?" The two men saluted and quickly took off while voxing in the request.

Huver in the meantime was trying to stay awake and noticed one of the armored soldiers approaching him. He noted that the armor looked custom-made and decorated before realizing that he was in the presence of the Chapter Master of the Aurora Spartans. The Chapter Master leaned down on one knee as he looked down on the fallen sergeant. "Are you in charge of this group?" The voice of the spartan came out heavy and slightly twisted from the helmets speakers. Huver nodded his head slowly and winced as the medic injected him with biofoam to keep his injuries intact. "Good, you can rest now. We'll continue the fight." Huver responded with a weak nod before sedated into unconsciousness from the medic.

John stood up and faced the Spartan Astartes as they waited for his command. "Sergeant Jerome, take Red Squad and scourge the engines of the ship." A Centurion acknowledged with a fist to the chest as he and 4 others left. "Sergeant Mike, Grey Squad will patrol the lower decks incase any of the daemons mange to sneak past the defenses." Another Centurion and his squad accepted his order with a salute. "Praetor Will, you will lead 5th Platoon of 2nd Company towards the breaches on the left stern. Battle Captain Samuel, you'll lead the Vanguard and Sternguard Veterans towards the largest incursions and divert their attention. Venerable Dreadnought Trion will accompany you." Samuel nodded his head and proceeded to march off with veterans of 1st Company and the Ancient. John turned around to face the remaining 6 Astartes waiting for him. "Honor Guards, with me. We'll head for the bridge." He immediately took off jogging with his Honor Guards trailing behind him.

Bridge of the Battleship _Starfall_

Everyone in the bridge was at the moment arming themselves while the bridge's armsmen set themselves up in positions facing the large doors that marked the only entrance into the bridge itself.

The Captain of _Starfall_ was off his command chair since he was busy interacting with his officers' that was spread all over the ship as they gave him updated news. Rear-Admiral Charker was happy when news came that Spartan Astartes had joined the fight and were currently assisting the armsmen with cleaning the ship of daemon presence. With luck, they may be able to finish off the remaining daemons before reaching their destination. However, his thoughts would be interrupted by a serious problem.

The screeching sound of something sharp scratching across the bridge's doors resonated across the room as all activity halted. The security armsmen quickly brought their weapons facing the doors while the bridge personal sought cover for protection. Silence dominated the room before sounds of screeching metal was heard, as the large doors were being forced apart as the servo hinges protested against this action. Blood curling cries were heard on the other side of the double doors as the daemons were trying to force their way in.

"Steady men," voiced the Sergeant-at-Arms to his men as they held their guns ready for their enemy to show up. They didn't have to wait long.

Two hands immediately broke through the center as they each grabbed a side of the door and began pushing them aside. The armsmen started pouring fire into the breach. Even as the daemon was killed, another pair of hands quickly replaced it and continued opening the door forcefully as the process repeated itself. The doors soon became wide enough for the bloodletters and several daemonettes to start pouring into the bridge.

Armsmen and bridge personal with a sidearm poured a continuous wave of fire at the approaching mass of daemons, but their numbers was too large to be easily put down. The charging mass soon crashed into the armsmen's lines as thy used their devastating warp abilities to sow havoc amongst the bridge's security. The bridge soon became a scene of a bloody butcher as the bodies of fallen humans covered the floor along with their blood while slain daemons were pulled back into the warp.

"GET OFF MY SHIP YOU ACCURSED WARP-SPAWN!" Roared _Starfall's_ Captain as he pulverized a daemonette's head with his boltpistol and sliced a bloodletter with his Naval Saber. The captain fought with a fury that garnered the attention of several bloodletters since they revel in war and his actions helped keep the guard's moral high. The High Navigator on the other hand was covered in crackling energy as he shot psychic lightening and other psychic energy at the horde using is staff with other bridge personal that were pyskers themselves contributing by throwing a bolt or two. However, even with that, the armsmen were slowly being pushed back and taking casualties that they couldn't afford to lose while the daemons own losses didn't affect them. Gaps were beginning to open across the defense line as the armsmen were starting to run out of men to fill those holes. Sadly, the daemons took full advantage of the situation to break through and start attacking the helpless personal.

Over the noise of the chaos, several heard distant pounding of what appeared to be something heavy approaching at an increasing rate. The ones nearest to the door heard the unmistakable sound of someone bellowing a charge at the door. Suddenly, a large armored being smashed through the double doors, forcing them to open wide instantly. A daemonette was unfortunate enough to be standing close to the doors while it was enjoying torturing a poor sod when they were forced open. It didn't even have time to see the incoming door before it smashed the unlucky daemon to paste unto the wall. The armored being didn't even register the fact that it unwittingly crushed something with a door. He proceeded to start carving a pathway in the horde with a blazing axe, sending daemons flying in the air left and right. He was immediately joined by 5 other armored beings as they started slaughtering the ship's uninvited guests.

Minutes passed by before the fighting died down as the last daemon was cut down and banished. The bridge would have been described as a site of a massacre as the floor was covered with the blood of both human and daemon with human corpses littering the floor. One of the armored beings, which the personal recognized as a Spartan Astarte put a hand on the side of his head as he spoke in the vox. "Bridge has been secured and purged. What are your statuses?"

He didn't have to wait long for a response. _+This is Captain Samuel, we have succeeded in sealing further incursions+ +Sergeant Jerome reporting, objective is a success+ +Praetor Will calling, no further daemon presence detected+ +Sergeant Mike reporting no presence of daemons in lower decks+_ John smiled at the news that the incursion had be dealt with. "You have done well, report back to _Metallus_. We'll soon be arriving at our destination." He received acknowledgements from them before they closed. However, he had important business to check with. He walked over to where the surviving personal were recovering themselves (particularly the pyskers) and were trying to clean the mess up. John didn't spare much thought on them, there was only one person he needed to see and he found him conversing with the captain who was in attended by an Ensign with first aid. "Rear-Admiral Charker, are you well?" John questioned the rear-admiral. Charker gave a small smiled at the question. "Nothing worse then a bruise. What about you Chapter Master?"

"I'll live." John responded with a shrug.

"Rear-Admiral." The two turned to see the High Navigator staggering to them while using his staff as a support. "We will be arriving at our destination soon. I highly suggest you get the squadron battle-ready when we exit slipspace."

Charker looked back at the Chapter Master who nodded in agreement. "I'll head back for my ship." Energy began surrounding him and the other Spartans in the room after finishing his sentence. A 'crack' was heard as it signaled that the Spartans have left the room.

After covering his eyes from the blinding energy, he composed himself and started bringing his orders out. "Alright then, I want a full report on the status of the fleet and this ship. Make sure that all weapons are loaded and ready for fire by the time we reach our destination. And somebody start cleaning this up, it smells worse than a waste disposal.

* * *

><p><strong>Core World Corverus<strong>

**Hysandi City**

**3.531 I.C**

First-Corporal Jask ducked behind cover with Private Castorin as a plasma mortar exploded near him, claiming 3 soldiers nearby as they were vaporized. "Keep firing men. Make them pay with blood for every meter they take! No mercy!" Shouted Veteran-Sergeant Veyron as he fired his laspistol furiously at the Covenant lines. The tattered Beta Squad and Lance-Corporal Alexandria answered his call by contributing their fire with his.

Jask joined in with firing his hellrifle at several Covenant warriors who were firing above their cover. He quickly thought on how fast things went by: watching most of his squad die in the initial moments of the battle, forced to retreat by the arrival of the main Covenant army and finding himself under the command of Veteran-Sergeant Veyron along with his retinue. The Veteran had done his best to keep them alive while under his command, but they lost Private Jonathan to a Kig-Yar sniper and First-Corporal Abevar had lost his right arm from a plasma grenade. So far, the Covenant had been slowly pushing them back in some areas while others were stuck in a stalemate. His thoughts were interrupted by a Baneblade Heavy Tank rumbling nearby and firing its demolisher cannon at a Wraith Tank while directing its lascannons and heavy bolters to cutting down any Covenant warriors caught in the open.

Much of the Covenant fire that had previously been focused on Imperial soldiers quickly switched on taking out the heavy tank as it poised the biggest threat to them. Most of their shots were ineffective as they bounced off the powerful shields of the heavy tank. The Baneblade responded by showering the area with explosive rounds from its compliment of lascannons and heavy bolters while its demolisher cannon continued hammering away at enemy tanks with extreme prejudice.

_+Keep up the pressure Kiser Company! If we can break their momentum, we might be able to open a gap in their lines+_ Hollered High-Captain Ulkunov through the vox lines. "You heard him. Keep firing away!"

The remnants of Steel Division and the Corverus PDF have been fighting the Covenant for control of Hysandi City for several hours with both sides gaining and losing ground constantly. So far, the Imperium still controlled most of Hysandi while the Covenant had only manage to take a small portion even with their new support, since the Scarabs couldn't navigate properly through the streets and the Locusts were constantly dueling with Baneblades and the 4 Sentinel Titans the Imperials had previously kept in reserve. The skies themselves were filled with aircraft has both sides fought for control of the Hysandi airspace.

Jask ducked once again as his shields barely held against several plasma shots from an Unggoy Minor. He brought the reticles of his weapon to bear facing the lone Unggoy before pulling the trigger. His hellrifle fired several short beams of light and in a blink of an eye; his target fell to the ground with its armor smoking in places where the energy punctured through. He immediately ducked under cover when a sixth sense was telling him to do it. Not a moment too soon, as a beam of particle energy passed where his head originally was and cut through the shield and armor of another soldier behind instead with little trouble.

"Sniper!" Jask shouted as he rushed to the fallen soldier in hopes of saving him. "We have a man down!" He checked the soldier for a pulse but then realized that the soldier was beyond saving. His left chest had been seared through by the beam and left with a sizable hole.

"Damn!" Swore Veyron. He turned to Lance-Corporal Onalaska. "Find that sniper and take it down before it takes one of us out!" A cry was heard as a soldier fell, clutching a wound in his right shoulder. Another soldier tried to drag him to safety but had his head shot cleanly by the sniper. "Do it NOW!" Onalaska nodded his head and took off to hunt down the sniper.

Suddenly, voxes began sputtering as a new voice spoke; _+This is High Colonel Furrom speaking. I have received excellent news. Reinforcements will be arriving shortly. Stay tight and continue holding out for few more moments. High Colonel Furrom out+_ Upon hearing the news, many of the Imperials began fighting with greater determination than ever. With reinforcements close by, they were determined to make sure to do as much damage as possible and hopefully trap them into a hammer and anvil situation.

* * *

><p><strong>Slipspace transit to Core World Corverus<strong>

**Squadron Fleet Memphis**

**Retribution-Battleship **_**Starfall**_

**3.531 I.C**

"_Are all ships ready, Captains?"_ Came the voice of Rear-Admiral Charker to all the Captains in the fleet-wide neural-link. One by one, every Captain gave their ship the green light to their superior. Charker was soon satisfied with the condition of his squadron. _"Very well then. I have nothing else to say now. Good luck. The Emperor Protects."_

'_The Emperor Protects."_ Chorused the Captains together before as they temporally left the link.

Exiting the link, Charker walked over to the command chair where the Captain sat and stood by him. Without turning around, Charker asked him a question, "how much more until we arrive?"

"Both Sephelium and the Navi-cogitator said we will arrive in a matter of minutes," he answered with taking his eyes off the windows of the bridge.

"Sirs." Both turned to see the Flag-Lieutenant, the Captain's second-in-command approach them. He stood at attention before addressing them; "we will be breaking out of slipspace any moment now."

"Thank you for the information, Patterson. You can return to your station." The Flag-Lieutenant identified as Patterson saluted before returning to his place.

Everyone soon brought their attention to the front of the bridge as the swirling light of slipspace began constricting and opening as the ship started the process of exiting into realspace.

* * *

><p><strong>Holderus System<strong>

**Core World Corverus**

**3.531 I.C**

The space surrounding Corverus was peacefully silent as nothing can be heard in the death throes of space itself. Warships of the Covenant of the Mantle hovered over many parts of the planet as they emptied their cargo of warriors and machines for the invasion while several others continued fighting with the remaining Imperial ships as they attempted to disrupt the invasion. Filling most of the space was however, a large graveyard of all ships of both sides that were destroyed in the first space battle that led to the near-destruction of the Imperial fleet defending the world along with most of the stations excluding the orbital platforms.

Nothing was happening at the moment for the many Covenant patrols looking out for Imperial reinforcements as they silently shifted through space.

'_Not one sign of enemy reinforcements. Will there be any?'_ Shipmaster N'thoramee thought to himself as he sat on his anti-gravity Command Chair while watching the stars from the bridge. It had been hours since Fleetmaster Rafirmee led the _Fleet of Fury_ against the Imperial world of Corverus. The defenders had been taken by surprise and even though they put up a valiant fight, they were horribly outmatched since the Fleetmaster had knocked their strongest ships out during the early moments of the battle. Ever since then, the remains of the Imperial naval defenders had retreated to the planet's North Pole and stood there while carrying out small strikes against the larger fleet until Rafirmee retaliated by sending several ships to 'deal with the cowards', the results was a larger grave for the Imperial Navy as they now had only a few active ships in one piece. N'thoramee didn't know why Rafirmee focused most of the fleet on the planet when he should be making sure that Imperial reinforcements couldn't sneak in behind their backs if they had larger responses than measly patrol groups.

Currently his patrol composed of 3 CSV-Frigates: the _Unyielding_, _Spirit of Valor_, and _Righteous_. They were led by his CPV-Destroyer, the _Fearless_, under strict orders to patrol through this area of space for any Imperial ships trying to sneak in.

N'thoramee's thoughts were quickly cut off as an Unggoy at one of the scanners spoke up.

"Shipmaster!" The Unggoy spoke in a high-pitched voice. "Scanners appear to be picking something up in the radiation levels." This got his attention since it could mean one thing.

"What are the readings?" He questioned to the Unggoy as he walked up to him to see the readings himself.

"The radiation levels are higher than the usual. Definitely not background. The readings appear to rising up quickly."

N'thoramee's twin hearts began pounding in his chest as he took in the news. He knew what that meant but he hoped that his suspicions were wrong. "What is the rest of the patrol reporting?" The nearest crew members could hear the slight fear in his voice.

One of the Kig-Yar, an Ibie'sh if he remembered correctly, typed away on a holo-tech before turning to face his superior. "All ships are reporting the same thing Shipmaster," the Ibie'sh answered in a raspy voice.

His suspicions were indeed correct as hoped it wouldn't. Imperial reinforcements were moments away of arriving.

"Place the patrol on high alert and have all ships start pulling back to the planet with best haste." N'thoramee ordered to the communication officers as he sat back on his command chair. "Inform Fleetmaster Rafirmee that Imperial forces are arriving to help their brethren." The communication officers began working furiously to send his orders and message as quickly as possible.

The patrol group began turning around as fast as their sub-light engines could allow to not be in the same place as when their enemy shows up. Just as N'thoramee thought they might make it, the same Unggoy from before began shouting in panic.

"Shipmaster! Scanners are now showing massive signs of radiation. A portal is being opened!"

N'thoramee watches the windows in despair as a large Imperial warship exits the portal and completely pulverizes _Unyielding_ by smashing the frigate aside with its size with barley a scratch on its hull.

He slowly and calmly sits back on his seat closes his eyes and accepting his death as the bridge continues in panic with more news and the fact that the warship, now identified as a battleship, was powering up its weapons. The last things he sees before the Battleship's guns destroy his ship is the appearance of more Imperial ships exiting from the portal as the bridge explodes in fire.

Retribution-Battleship _Starfall_

"Rear-Admiral, it appears we may have accidently rammed something to oblivion after exiting," remarked the Captain with amusement.

"It appears so, Captain." Agreed Charker. He walked to the holo-table as it displayed the entire Holderus System before zooming it in to Corverus and his squadron. "Squadron status?"

"_All ships are reporting green sir."_ Came a synthetic male voice as a blue spark appeared on the holo-table.

Charker smiled at his Militaris Machine Spirit, Rheago. "Ah, my dear Rheago. Where in the blazes were you the whole time? I had to do everything myself."

"_I was sleeping."_

Charker raised an eyebrow at his response. "Your telling me that you were sleeping through an _entire_ battle in this very ship without noticing?"

"_If that's how you would describe it then yes I did."_ Rheago responded in a bored voice.

Charker sighed while rubbing his forehead from his machine spirit's antics. Whoever designed Rheago into existence must've really wanted to make someone's life miserable with these antics. He debated if he should teach Rheago a lesson by locking him in a data crystal and jettisoning him through an airlock and maroon him space for say a century before returning back for him to see if he learned his lesson. The idea was quickly shot down as he remembered that Rheago could just place himself in a suspension to pass time without going crazy.

"Never mind, what is the Covenant armada doing?" Asked Charker, hoping to change the subject to save himself a headache.

"_From what the auspex scanners are showing, most of the ships are arranging themselves in defensive lines towards us. Seems like one of the patrol ships managed to send a warning in time."_ Rheago voice turned serious from his original bored tone.

"What's done is done. There is nothing we can do about it." Charker spoke grimly as he inspected his fleet schematics closely. His squadron is composed of his Retribution-Battleship flagship, 4 Oberon-Battlecruisers, 10 Marathon-Cruisers, 12 Dauntless-Light cruisers, 15 Harrier-Destroyers, 3 Avedon-Light carriers, 18 Firestorm-Heavy frigates, and 21 Charon-Light frigates. 84 warships under his command that make up Squadron Fleet Memphis. Before he had left Fortress world Primus Vespa for Corverus, High Command had assigned him 2 Aries-Troopships holding the 2nd and 4th Corps of the 2nd Corverus Army and a Fallen-Troopship with 1st Division of the 1st Corverus Marine Corps in its hull. Also joining them is a Mecha-Transport holding Legion Asterux since they had sent ahead several titans to guard Corverus until the rest of the legion could join and the Battle Barge _Metallus_ and Lunar-Cruiser _Orion_ of the Spartan Astartes Aurora Chapter, Ultraspartans Legion.

Opposing them was a larger but bloodied Covenant armada. Leading the fleet was a CVO-Assault Carrier flanked by 2 COS-War cruisers, behind stood 5 CCO-Assault cruisers, 9 CSC-Battlecruisers, 15 CCS-Cruisers, 17 CSS-Light cruisers, 12 CPV-Destroyers, 20 CVS-Heavy frigates, 24 CSV-Frigates, and 27 CSP-Corvettes. Far behind and away from the armada stood a CSO-Carrier with 10 CPV-Destroyers and 13 CSV-Frigates. He guessed that they were held back as a reserve incase the battle doesn't fall in their favor and they need to evacuate all Covenant forces.

Charker straightened himself as he made eye contact with every on the bridge. "Inform the squadron to begin moving forward at 60% speed and maintain battle formation V."

The Squadron Memphis soon began moving into position with the battleship and battlecruisers taking the front of the formation with the carriers and light cruisers taking the middle. The cruisers and heavy frigates took the sides while the destroyers and light frigates formed into wolf packs and set themselves in key areas. Slowly, the group approached the assembled Covenant armada.

"Sir, the armada is now in range of our weapons as we are to theirs," announced an Ensign from his holo-cogitator.

"Good," responded Charker. "Fire a full salvo of torpedoes and launch all craft behind with attack craft supporting them. Have the bombers hold back for the crucial moment." The battle plan he enacted was an old tactic in which a fleet would launch a barrage of missiles or torpedoes towards the enemy while acting as a screen shield for the fighters trailing behind to safely make it.

Suddenly, thousands of 5 meter long Blitz torpedoes are launched from the ships as they begin speeding towards the Covenant armada. Seconds later, hundreds upon hundreds of fighters and interceptors fly out of the hangers of ships and trail behind the torpedo wave.

The Covenant's scanners pick up the signatures of the torpedoes and respond by firing their defensive pulse turrets in hopes of knock the wave out. This would've worked with missiles but alas torpedoes are a different story. Thicker than a missile, torpedoes are designed in mind to punch through armor before detonating while missiles explode upon contact unless designed differently. As such, they are better armored than their smaller counterparts to be able to absorb damage and dish it out greater.

The Covenant ships desperately tried to shoot down the incoming wave but they were difficult to do so, not to mention the Imperial ships had fired thousands of them.

Within seconds, the torpedo wave crashed against the Covenant as explosions begin popping up throughout the armada. Torpedoes went off as they were shot down or exploded harmlessly across the shields. Others passed through and broke through the hulls before detonating their explosive cores. Ships then exploding as their munitions are ignited or their antimatter reactors went critical. As the chaos dies down, the spacecraft immediately take full advantage of their opponent's injury and begin their attack.

The Covenant fleet had lost in the torpedo wave 13 CSVs, 11 CVSs, 16 CSPs, 6 CPVs, 3 CCSs, and a CSC. They barley had time to lick their wounds before they were taken completely by surprise with the appearance of enemy spacecraft rushing in. They responded to this threat by launching their remaining craft to battle.

A massive dog-fight erupts in space as it becomes filled with lasers, missiles, and plasma rounds streaking across and explosions pocketing the region. Imperial Attack craft soon join the fight, lending their support in destroying enemy craft. The fight quickly falls in favor to the Imperials as the Covenant was losing too many spacecraft with very little left against their enemies overwhelming force. The bombers soon join the fight to be part of a plan to open a gap in the lines to safely allow the troopships to pass undeterred.

Rear-Admiral Charker watched the battle occur from the bridge as the squadron became closer to the Covenant armada. He turned around to face the bridge and spoke the order, "order all ships to open fire at will!"

Suddenly, the Imperial fleet began firing everything at the opposing fleet. The first to strike were the nova cannons of the battleship and the battlecruisers. The large shells detonated their nuclear cores in the mist of the Covenant, destroying several ships and damaging many. Lasbatteries, mass drives, and macrocannons soon joined in the volley, contributing their firepower in devastating the Covenant lines. However, their enemy wasn't simply going to stay down and not hit back.

The largest ships began building up power in specific areas dotting the hulls before unleashing energy projectiles at their enemy. Several of the Imperial ships were completely bisected in half with other simply gutted through or vaporized. Plasma torpedoes were launched in mass and homed in their targets, boiling through meters of armor and gutting them in vulnerable sections. Plasma and particle cannons soon joined in, shattering ships and burning entire hulls away.

Both sides soon began crossing each other's paths, the battle soon devolved into a knife fight between two opponents in a bath tube as both sides hammered each other with every available weapon. Small stars were born as reactors exploded violently.

The _Starfall_ was a whirlwind of fire as it strode through the Covenant lines as its large lance batteries ripped apart an assault cruiser while its broadside macrocannons and onegar cannons smashed 2 battlecruisers with a third slowly breaking apart under pressure. Behind it, the Oberon-battlecruisers followed behind dueling with their counterparts and making short work of other ships. The Battle Barge of the Aurora Chapter was battling multiple capitol ships with the Lunar-cruiser flanking them at every opportunity and inflicting casualties.

The battle was slowly moving in favor for the Imperium as the Covenant began losing ground. While their ships are formidable, the last battle they had with the defenders had left them injured which were slowly beginning to have effects as rounds found weak points in the armored hulls and the last Covenant fighters were destroyed, thus allowing bombers to take advantage of the clearance to start delivering their cargo on their enemy. The results were more Covenant shipwrecks floating in space compared to their Imperium counterparts.

Charker watched has the battleship's lance batteries and prow based weaponry finished off a war cruiser after disabling it with a group of Marauder bombers and Hydra missile rods. He glared through the window at the large CVO-Assault Carrier as it vaporized one of the Oberon-battlecruisers with its large energy projectile and adding its destruction to its large kill count. He knew that the assault carrier needed to be dealt with before it ends up taking down most of the squadron with it to the graveyard. "Full speed towards the CVO now." Came his order. The entire bridge stopped and stared in bewilderment at their Rear-Admiral's order. Charker scowled at the bridge upon seeing their expressions. "Did I stutter? Get to it!" The crew quickly obeyed and started typing commands in the holo-cogitators.

The large battleship slowly turned as it sped towards the assault carrier to initiate a duel between flagships. The Fleetmaster on the ship realized the same thing as it mimicked its opponents charge.

Deep inside the battleship, a mechanical conscious growled as it felt hot plasma wash over its mental field. Such weak weapons, he thought. He knew that none of these could breach it field. None of those abominations could beat him. He is one of the most powerful spirits to grace the void since the old spirits once did countless galactic cycles ago. He raged as he felt the spirit of one of his brothers, _Relentless_ if he remembered; fade away in agony from the fires of an abomination. His brother wasn't just broken; he was completely wiped out from existence. He broadened his senses to find the one responsible for this and make it pay.

He found him, the greatest of all of them. He seethed in anger as he coursed power into his engines at the behest of his companion-captain and pushed himself towards this foe. He bellowed a challenge to his opponent. It listened and answered by turning to face him poorly. He felt disgusted on how such a _thing_ could exist. It barley has life at all, it doesn't behave like a proper machine spirit, doesn't follow the laws written down by the ancient ones of what makes them spiritual. No matter. It will fall like every other opponent has since his spark was born. He will bring retribution for his fallen brothers and sisters and for the fallen ancient that breathed life to them: Omnissiah, the Deus Mechanicus of all Machine Spirits. He roared in fury as he brought his wrath together as it pulsed it towards his opponent. Retribution will come for he is _Starfall,_ the bane of his creator's enemies.

The battleship's lance batteries roared to life as they launched condensed plasma at the assault carrier. The plasma sprayed across the shields without affecting the ship itself. Macrocannons, mass drives, onegar cannons soon joined in breaking down the shield. However, all that paled in comparison when its twin nova cannons erupted and sent their deadly shells at the target. This time, the shields buckled under the explosive might of the nova cannon.

The assault carrier had not been idle the entire time. Energy projectiles built up and fired, burning the shields down while plasma and particle cannons crashed across the shield, bringing them dangerously low. Plasma torpedoes were launched as fast as possible as they broke through the shields and started scorching the armor.

This seemed to anger the machine spirit of the battleship as the captain noted fury coursing through the circuits as it prepared to deal a death blow to the CVO once and for all.

The ship seemed to gather itself as brought all its weapons to bear, before releasing them all at once in a single go that traveled as a powerful wave towards the shieldless assault carrier. The results were shocking. To say the CVO-Assault Carrier was destroyed would've been an understatement: the entire prow of the large ship had been completely _pulverized to atoms_ as though someone took a massive power sword and decide to cleave the large ship in two pieces while discarding the first part without touching the other one. This action finally broke the Covenant lines, no longer did the smaller Imperial ships have to worry about being at the mercy at the bigger opponents. But most importantly, this meant the transports can make a break for planet fall.

"Sir, the enemy fleet is breaking apart. The Fleetmaster was definitely onboard the assault carrier." Reported one of the ensigns.

Charker gave a faint smile. "Very well, have the transports move through the largest gaps and start their deployment." While he knew he should be happy like the rest of the crew, there was still the matter of CSO-Carrier and her escorts sitting idle as the remains of the armada join them in their standoff against his. It was unknown what they were up to and that was something he didn't like about. For all he knew, they were waiting an opportunity to strike his transports.

"Have wolf packs Bravo and Alpha escort the troopships to the atmosphere. I don't trust those Covenant survivors as far as I can blast them to stay away."

Two groups of frigates broke of from the squadron as they escorted the transports that were steadily approaching the planet's surface. While the two Aries and Mecha activated their thrusters upon starting their descent in order to slow down, the Fallen-troopship continued speeding forward without slowly down as it began entering the atmosphere of the planet and heading for the heaviest fighting.

As the Fallen's heat shield warded off the built up heat from atmospheric entry and the crew navigated it to a perfect location, bowels of the troopship became a source of frenzy. The men of 1st Division, 1st Corverus Marine Corps were running around, checking their equipment and doing what any good marine would do right before a battle, create an organized chaos.

"What are you walking around for, pimps? A dancing moment with your girlfriends? Double-time your paces NOW before I introduce your lovely asses to my foot! Hollered a Marine officer to several men who were now moving faster after hearing their officer's "encouragement". Everywhere, marines were double-checking, triple-checking, and quadruple-checking their gear without missing a beat. Field General Icarus had informed the division that they'll be crash-landing where the fighting is at its thickest. Even better was the fact that the Field General had requested the crew to land them in battle "with style". In other words, give the Covenant a nasty surprise they'll never forget.

Right now, all the marines were assembling at large doors that would collapse down the moment the troopships comes to a stop after crashing. Surrounding each gates were crash seats to ensure no one was injured from the crash and allow them to evacuate the ship as quickly as possible. Loud static was heard by the loudspeakers before a voice broke, "**We'll be approaching Landing Zone in 5 minutes. Ready yourselves for we'll be coming down hard and fast**." Concluding, the loudspeakers began a countdown per minute as the ship began shaking from enemy anti-aircraft guns attempting to bring the reinforcements down.

"Alright, listen up everyone." Announced a Major as he walked in front of his men. "We're going to be heading for our capitol city Hysandi. The Armageddon Steel Division along with our PDF has been holding out for a while but they can't keep up the pressure. We are going to help take off pressure for them by attacking the Covenant's unprotected sides. Any questions?" He looked around the men for any raised hands.

One hand rose up, which the major noticed quickly that it came from a young marine, probably hasn't reach 100-years of age. "You there. What do you want to ask?"

He seemed slightly nervous about his question. "Sir, what about the scarabs and locusts? Won't they tear apart our forces? We don't have anything capable of taking those behemoths down in good time." His questioned brought a lot of nods in agreement to the young man's question.

The major allowed a grin to form on his face. "No need to worry about that. Others will handle the problem for us."

Everyone looked confused at his answer before another marine spoke up. "Who will?"

His grin became bigger and deadly from the question. "Why, by the Mecha Legion Asterux."

The Mecha-Transport _Feraxis_

Deep with in the hull of the Mecha-Transport, a massive hanger bay filled most of the ship as it held titans of all classes in large mechanical clamps as they hovered above a large door below. The hanger was sight of frenzy as enginseers and techmarines made their final system checks before allowing the pilots to enter their machines. After all, it would embarrassing for a titan pilot to have his machine malfunction during battle simply because one of the magos accidently overlooked a spot.

Titan Pilot Rodriguez placed his helmet on as it clamped down with his suit and connected his neural system with the suit's neural circuits, thus making the suit feel like another layer of skin. He entered the hatch of his Warhound titan, the _Typhon_, in its head as it housed the cockpit for the pilot. He watched as an enginseer was making a last check on the system before appearing satisfied. He turned around and noticed the pilot of the titan waiting for him.

The voice of the Mechanicus member came our slightly raspy. "I have made the final checks and adjustments pilot. Your machine spirit waits you for the linking."

"Thank you very much enginseer. I'm good now."

The enginseer gave a slight nod before exiting the cockpit and locking the hatch behind Rodriguez properly. Taking a huff of breath, he walked over to a platform with what looked like an incomplete exosuit with only the arms, legs, chest/back, and head there. Placing himself in place, he held still as the exosuit wrapped itself on the respective areas and locked in place while waiting for the suits/his neural and the titans' to begin linking together into one form. He didn't need to wait long as he felt a cold feeling passing up his spine and entering the mechanical link. He felt his mind expand while his body felt like it was morphing and twisting into a new shape, signaling the linkage between titan and pilot was working. The entire process lasted more than 2 minutes before it ended and left him panting slightly from the mental procedure. Even though he has been doing this for over 300 years since he first joined the Mechas, he can never get accustomed with this feeling. He recalled an advice a veteran pilot once said to him back when he was barley the age of 50 and was a newly recruit. 'The linkage between organic and machine was something no one could ever become used to no matter how long they serve. Both are different yet the same but neither can each understand one another.' _'Pretty good advice if I say so myself.'_ While the link felt complete, he knew from experience that the link would never truly finish until he was released to the ground.

Hoping to pass the remaining time, he started reviewing the orders he and the legion received at the briefing room. They have been given the mission of eliminating the Covenant scarabs and locusts before they decide to turn their weapons at different targets and turn the reinforcements into a large massacre.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he almost failed to notice an alarm blaring every 5 seconds. He recognized the alarm for its one use, signaling the opening of the large hanger doors below. Loudspeakers were ringing with orders of all personals to exit the hanger before the doors start opening. Minutes later, the alarm became louder as a deep rumbled was heard as the massive doors slowly opened to the sky below and he felt his titan move slightly the clamps moved it in position. Even though he was sealed inside and the link was incomplete, he could have sworn that he both heard and felt the surging winds as the hanger doors finally opened.

Meanwhile, while Rodriguez was debating if he was hallucinating or not. The crew of the transport was making its own preparations for the drop. The captain of the ship was busy reviewing the statics of his ship until he lifted his head and asked, "what's the altitude?"

A crewman turned away from his cogitator to the captain. "We're at 30,000 meters and decreasing. The ship will soon reach the respective height."

"Very good then." He faced another crewman. "Has everyone cleared the hanger bays?" He received an affirmative. "Good, open the doors and ready the titans."

"We're at 28,000 meters sir!" Yelled the crewman from before.

"Understood. Get ready to release the titans." He responded.

"26,500 meters…"

Crewmen began shuffling around the bridge to their stations.

"23,800 meters…"

The flag-lieutenant of the ships opened up a panel that brought up a holo-screen with a large button indicator with the label: Titan Launch on it.

"21,300 meters…"

The flag-lieutenant's hand hovered above the button has he waited for the right moment.

"…20,000 meters! He yelled louder than before. The flag-lieutenant immediately slammed his hand on the hard light screen where the button sat.

Rodriguez was resting his eyes as he waited to be released when he opened his eyes upon hearing groaning metal as he watched through the titan's visor the clamps holding the titans shifted lower before a long drawn-out alarm blared its single note. The clamps holding the titans suddenly released as he felt weightless and his stomach up in his head with the fall. He could see the through the visor his fellow titan members falling with him. Something flashed at the edge of his vision and saw one of the Aries launching hundreds of Valkyries and large dropships while it continued descending to deploy the main force and war machines in its holds.

The visor of his titan soon became fully active as readings began appearing across the screen, most importantly the altitude meter showing how fast he was reaching ground level. A synthetic voice spoke up in the neural link, +_Titan Protocols initiating…/+_

The titan groaned as it began to expand itself from its cramped form. The arms and legs spread themselves as the armor plates slide in the open gaps of the limbs while the body itself started locking into shape. A deep hum could be heard in the background as the reactor began powering up and news information filled the screen as the shields and weapons systems became online. Rodriguez soon began feeling a strange sensation as his senses mingled with the titan's own sensors. He could feel the wind patting on the armor, the feeling of not standing on solid surface with his feet, and the reactor coursing energy through the machine like his blood. Finally, the titan finished unraveling and small thrusters instantly went off to slow its descent smoothly. Suddenly, decorated helmet appeared on the left side of the visor. Rodriguez recognized him as Princep Medivero, commander of Titan Legion Asterux.

"_All titans sound off."_ Arrived the first order from the Princep. _"Titan Steel Shield aye…Titan Stonebreaker aye…Titan Gigantean aye…Titan Star Bearer aye…Titan Stormbringer aye…Titan Jaguar aye…Titan Ironhorn aye…Titan Broken Sword aye…"_ and it went on as all 30 titans sounded until he became last, _…Titan Dawnlight aye…Titan Typhon aye."_ Rodriguez responded lastly to his commander. The Princep signed out as the titans became closer to the surface since the altitude alarm was shrilling louder as the meter dropped closer to zero. 900…800…700…600…500…400…300…200…150…100…50…40…30…20…10…Impacting Now

The Warhound titan slammed into the ground with a tremendous crash, jarring Rodriguez's bones even with the shock absorbers built in his suit. The rest of the legion followed suit, smashing into the ground and creating craters indicating where they landed. One by one, each titan roused from the craters with the smoke slide off their armor smoothly, making them look like spectra's of death and war to anyone witnessing.

"_Legion Asterux, move out to Hysandi City. We need to deal with the enemy walkers and occupy the main army until the rest of the force finish touching down while reuniting with the Sentinels."_ Informed the Princep to the legion, which everyone agreed with. Rodriguez could feel the eagerness of the machine spirit wanting to face battle with its enemy and feel the sensation of its weapons firing away and spelling doom to its targets.

Slowly the 30 war machines began marching towards the city, their heavy footsteps creating small impacts in the ground while leaving large imprints of their feet. War was calling to them and they were coming to answer the call as the massive Imperator titan in the lead blared a mechanical roared, declaring a challenge to anything foolish enough to face it and the legion in battle.

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><p>Codex: Imperium of Humanity<p>

Boltpistol: a miniature version of the bolt guns, mainly used for close-quarters and as a sidearm.

Auspex Scanner: the main type of scanner utilized by Imperial forces when scanning their opponents

Blitz Torpedo: the main type of torpedo in service of the Imperial Navy, they carry quite a punch as their 5 meter long body is packed with explosions capable of blowing a Baneblade to pieces.

Hydra Missile Rod:a 2 meter long missile rod that carries 20 smaller missiles in it and release them en mass upon a certain distance to he target. Each small misssile can leave a Grizzly tank a smoking wreck.

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><p><strong>And here's chapter 4<strong>

**Note the codex? This was a recent idea about adding more stuff to the factions since as the story progresses, new ideas will be rise**

**Reviews please (and reasonable criticism)**

**The battle for Corverus will finish in the next battle**

**Will the Imperium win or will the Covenant snatch victory. **

**Find out next on Galaxia's Wars**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm baaaaack guys!**

**But first let me answer some questions:**

**mr I hate znt nobles kill em: things could get worse in the future.**

**black light: I might possibly add Gears of War world Sera as a lost human colony in the future chapters (or as a side story) since it would be a great story.**

**The Joining: Thanks for some of the recommendation. You have no idea how many ideas I came up with that *sinister chuckle*. **

**SPARTA-626: not sure how I'll get around with the Sisters of Battle but I'll see what I can do. And for more HALO characters; Hood already made a small appearance in chapter 2 and will be making one in the next chapter. Johnson will show up in** _**style**_**with explosions *grins with a maniac smile * . Keyes will show up later. Not sure about Lasky. Noble Team will be making an appearance, simply need to know when and how. Legion of the Damn will also show up in the story. Better way to say it-all characters will show if I can cram them in. Thanks for reminding me with the 'brother' thing.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Battle for Corverus IV<strong>

_Usually the one way to tell if you're completely fraked would be if your opponent brought a really big gun to battle. To avoid that fate, bring a bigger gun than he did. If he happens to bring a bigger one than yours, bring a larger one. If that doesn't work, well there's a reason why we invented the word Exterminatus. _

_-Princep Jekar of Legion Valkanas after his legion faced the massive Ork Mega Gargants on Jericho IV._

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><p><strong>Core world Corverus<strong>

**Fallen-Troopship **

**3.531 I.C**

"Everybody buckle up! Where going to making a nice crash landing in a few minutes." An officer yelled to everyone.

Men scrambled to their assigned crash seats and secured themselves for the rough landing. Vehicles were placed on standby as drivers set the engines of their machines ready. The moment the troopships touched the ground, the large doors will immediately open and allow the marines to rush out right into their enemy's surprised faces with bolt rifles blazing.

The transport rumbled as its thrusters kicked in to smooth the landing for everyone in the ship. Seconds ticked like hours to everyone for the crucial moment. Suddenly, everyone lurched in their seats as a loud crash proceeded by a grinding noise was heard in the background, signaling that the transport has 'landed'. The grinding noise along with the rumbling of the ship lasted for a number of seconds before coming to a halt.

Marines quickly unstrapped themselves and their gear before facing the doors. An alarm immediately rang shortly answer with green lights appearing on the sides of the large doors. Explosions were heard as the doors instantly collapsed forward, allowing the Corverus Marines to see their home planet again except for the fact that there were enemies milling on their home.

The Marines yelled battle cries as they charged through the collapsed doors and outside where Covenant soldiers were busy trying to shake of their dizziness of being next to a large object crashing on the surface. A few were able to snap out of this state and start firing but unfortunately for them, they were too few. The marines began firing their weapons to take full advantage of their enemy's weakness and started inflicting casualties.

Leading at the front of the charges were Veteran Marine Terminators as their wrist-mounted storm bolters and other chosen weapons brought death among the enemy. Directly behind them came marines carrying Storm Shields in order to protect the men behind them from enemy fire until they gained a foothold. Covering their charge was the transport's defenses as tracer turrets and the few lasbatteries racked the Covenant ranks in order to buy more time for the marines to fully exit. Enemy return fire soon increased as more snapped out and responded to the presence of enemy soldiers. The air soon became a blur of bolt rounds and plasma charges flying everywhere as soldiers simply fired where the enemy was and not where the individual is.

Soon enough, all the marines had exited the ship and were fighting. The roar of engines joined the battle as vehicles ranging from Grizzly tanks to Land Warthogs raced out of the bays and contributed their heavy fire. With this added support, the Covenant ranks broke and scattered under the withering fire of the 1st Corverus Marines Corps. By the time everyone had left the transport, a large foothold had been taken for the main force to land in.

A marine officer, whose uniform denoted his rank as a Field General, had watched the battle from the bridge. He turned to the communication officers, "inform the rest of the transports that Objective A has been completed and B is a go."

"Yes sir!" Acknowledged the man before turning back to the holo-cogitator.

Above the and away from the Fallen-troopship, the Aries slowly but increasingly began moving towards the foothold to unload the rest of the army still remaining in its bays.

Titan Legion Asterux

The sight of seeing an entire legion of titans marching to battle would've sent anyone with common sense running for cover and praying that they aren't found. Luckily for many of the Covenant patrols, the Asterux weren't interested in these small groups seeing as they have a bigger target to hunt down. While the legion were more than capable of handling 2 scarabs and several locusts with ease, it didn't hurt to be cautious when enemy walkers tend to be very agile and mobile compared to yours in combat and always took full advantage of that fact.

The Legion Asterux has been marching for several hours towards Hysandi City where reports indicated the presence of Covenant walkers on the planet.

"_Jaguar to Steel Shield, we are closing in on the city. Am witnessing the remains of previous fighting."_

"_Affirmative. Can you locate the walkers Jaguar?"_

"_Negative Steel Shield. Walkers are not in sight, I repeat. Walkers are not in sight. Damage of infrastructure indicates their presence here before our arrival. Wherever they are, it's not here."_

"_Damn! I was hoping this wouldn't happen. They're avoiding us since we're all together."_

"_What do we do exactly ?"_

"_We're going to have to split up, even though that's what the enemy wants us to do. Stonebreaker and Stormbringer, take each a group with you and began covering the city for those walkers and supporting our guys. Broken Sword, take a few titans with you and find our Sentinel fellows in the city. Understood everyone?"_

Princep Medivero received acknowledgments from everyone before signing off and taking his team with him. The legion slowly broke up into groups as they split up and took off into different directions.

Rodriguez trudged his Warhound behind the large size of the Imperator designated as Stormbringer as the veteran pilot of the behemoth machine led a group composed of an Imperator, 3 Warhounds, 4 Chassises, and 2 Mantises. The group mostly focused more on firepower than mobility compared to the other groups. Titan Legions can vary on what titans they have: some legions focused a lot on mobility, leaving them with mostly Sentinels and Mantises in their ranks. Several prefer firepower, meaning they have large numbers of Imperators and Warhounds. Others would use flexible tactics, fielding Chassises in large numbers with Warhounds as their heavies and Mantises as shock machines. However, large numbers of legions like his tend to be multi-tactical when employing titans by using every class in the battle.

He occasionally looked at his scanners to make sure no one was sneaking behind them while his group cautiously moved through the city. While Scarabs were pretty large, they can be surprisingly quiet when slowly approaching from behind target.

"_Stormbringer! This is Maleficent speaking. We have something big on the scanners and its heading for us!"_

"_How large!"_

"_Around 55 meters, give or take! Its moving really fast for something that big!"_

"_Its one of the Scarabs! Everyone, watch your sixes. Maleficent, where is it?"_

"_Around 300 meters to our left and closing in fast."_ From the scanners of everyone, they could see a large blob approaching them. He could see that the guy wasn't kidding, the Scarab was indeed moving really fast despite its size.

By know the entire group could hear rumbling and the increasing sound of something large smashing a path of destruction through the city to reach them. They all turned to the left and steeled themselves for the incoming storm. Rodriguez could still remember the stories of pilots who fought Scarabs describe them as a dangerous opponent a titan could face in the battlefield. As fast as a Mantis and nearly ruthless like a Warhound, it was the kind of enemy not to trifle with.

The sound of destruction become louder as their target became closer until it all of a sudden stopped. Surprised, he checked his scanners and became shocked with the fact that their target disappeared from the scanners.

"_Uuuhhhhh…where it go?"_ Came the voice of one of the Chassis pilots.

They quickly got their answer when one of the buildings suddenly collapsed in their direction.

"_Everyone BREAK!"_ Came the voice of the veteran.

All the titans immediately moved aside with the exception of one of the Warhounds that was too close and couldn't dodge the falling mass. The building looked about to crush the machine before it lifted its arms and caught the building. The armored feet of the Warhound caved into the ground from the heavy weight of the building as the servos of the machine desperately tried to prevent the titan from being crushed.

"_W-what are you w-waiting for? I c-can't hold t-this thing f-forever!"_ This was furthered proved as the titan's legs began digging deeper into the ground while the arms started lowering from the immense weight.

"_Hold on. We'll get it off you…SCARAB!"_ The veteran's yell rattled everyone's ears from the vox.

Their Scarab appeared itself in front of them. Unfortunately it decided to appear on top of the building, which happened to be the one trying to crush their fellow titan. However, the added weight soon proved to much for the trapped Warhound to handle and collapsed under the pressure, effectively being crushed.

"_Titan Felixian is down! That bastard!"_ Rodriguez didn't know who of the group said that. Either way, he didn't care now. Not since his blood was boiling at the fact that one of their titans was taken out in the most cowardly way without a fight. The nearest titans to the walker charged and raised their guns to bear.

The walker moved quickly at its opponents by using the momentum of the fallen building to catapult it to the nearest titan, a Chassis. Before the titan could react, the Scarab crashed into it. The pilot responded this action by digging its feet into the ground for support while lifting its plascannons to the walker and charging a shot. In a split second, the walker lifted one of its legs and pinned the arm just as the plascannon fired, scorching the ground instead. The Scarab brought its other leg and used its claw to grab the head of the chassis. The rest of the group could hear the panicking screams of the pilot as the claw slowly crushed the head and ripped it from the body. The body of the titan froze with the loss of the command cockpit as it started tipping over. The Scarab finished the Chassis by taking the claw with the crushed head and proceeded to smash it into the head in the chest, caving it in and destroying its reactor.

"_NO, High Born!"_ Cried in anguish one of the pilots. The rest of the group stared in shock at the death of one of their titans. That shock soon quickly changed to fury as all the pilots raged in an indescribable anger. _"Take down that bastard NOW! Grind it to dust! Let its death screams echo across the landscape!"_ Roared the veteran to the rest of the group. He didn't need to encourage them since everyone wanted to shred the walker to pieces.

The other Warhound pointed its volcano cannon and fired the deadly beam at the Scarab. The walker scurried to the side, barley dodging the blast with nearly most of the shields taken out. One of the Mantises, the _Swift_, charged full speed while firing its melta cannon at his opponent to get its attention. It worked as the pilot hoped.

The Scarab fired it energy projectile at the Imperator, forcing the massive titan to brace itself from the shock of the blast. It quickly turned after several melta rounds damaged its front left leg and unloaded its ultra-plasma cannons at the smaller titan. The pilot expected that because he suddenly activated the thruster of his titan, sending the _Swift_ soaring over the plasma beam while still firing the melta at the Scarab. The walker gave a mechanical growl of frustration as it tried to bring the cannon once more at the titan. The Mantis switched its target and fired non-stop at the plasma cannon until it exploded. The Scarab roared in anger at the loss of its weapon and tried to rectify the problem with its energy projectile. Rodriguez saw that and put a stop to it by firing his unegar cannons at it, forcing the walker to divert its attention to him instead.

By taking its attention of the Mantis, it didn't notice the small titan from slamming unto its back and forcing into the ground. With a large gutter roar, the chainfist activated and the _Swift_ plunged it into the back of the Scarab to both open the armor and help keep the Mantis secured on its back. The walker let out a mechanical scream of pain as the chainfist tore through its armor. The Scarab started shaking itself violently in an attempt to get the opponent off of its back, which soon proved futile since the titan secured itself well on its back.

The _Swift _soon tore a chunk of the Scarab's armor off and quickly shoved the melta cannon into the breach and fired repeatedly without stopping. The walker gave off more screams as the melta damaged its insides severely and doubled its attempts of throwing the titan off. The rest of the group joined in taking the walker down slowly and painfully.

Rodriguez shot one of the back legs completely off, sending the walker crashing into the ground. The other Warhound poured round after round into the Scarab's 'face' where the projectile was located. One of the Chassis titans got too close to the walker in the pilot's eagerness for revenge. The Scarab lashed out with one of its remaining legs, knocking aside the titan. With that action however, the walker was able to succeed in shaking off the _Swift _from its back but not before it tore more components of its body.

"_Quickly! Now's our chance to get rid of it!_ Shouted the pilot of _Swift. _The ground shook as the massive Imperator charged up to the fallen Scarab and with a single move, tour the hellstorm into its injury and fired. The Scarab screamed in pain as it tried lashing out against the Imperator, hoping to knock it down. Unfortunately for it, designers had known that the large size of the Imperator was its biggest weakness and that all it would take is something with enough force to knock it in order to let gravity do the rest of the work. They solved it by installing on it many grav-chute techs as possible. making sure that it would take a Fallen class at full speed to be able to knock it down. So a lash from the Scarab was next to nothing for the large titan.

The Imperator took its hellstorm cannon out of the body of the walker after unloading its charge. The Scarab gave a weak growl at the titan in defiance despite its position. The titan responded by lifting its massive foot and bringing it down on the head. It gave a final mechanical scream capable of shattering glass before the Imperator ended it with a twist of its foot, effectively crushing the head of the Scarab and killing it for good.

"_Target eliminated."_ Came the gruff voice of the veteran in the vox. _"Assess damage and the state of Felixian, we may still be able to save him!"_ Several of the titans began using their weapons to cut through the building and taking it apart while hoping he was still alive.

"_Sir, the Felixian is down. Most of the titan is crushed in many places and the pilot isn't responding to our hails. The cockpit is showing signs of heavy damage so it seems he was killed by that."_ One of the Chassis pilots reported to his superior.

Cursing's were heard on the other end of the vox before the veteran was able to calm himself down. _"Very well, set a beacon down for the Feraxis to pick up their remains."_ He then switched channels on the vox to communicate to someone else. _"Princep? Do you copy?"_

There was silence for a few seconds before a response came through. _"Yes. I hear you load and clear. Report now."_

"_We've succeeded in taking down our target but at the loss of Felixian and High Born. The Feraxis will recover their remains."_

"_By the Stars of Orion, you seemed to have been lucky."_

"_Why's that?"_

"_Gigantean and his team had been ambushed by the last Scarab and what remained of the Locusts. His forces suffered several losses before they finally took them down."_

"_Well thanks for the news. However, do you have orders for us?"_

"_I received news from the battlefield: the Covenant are slowly falling back to areas still under their control. I want you and your team to join the fight and prevent the Covenant from trying to evacuate their forces from this world. Understood?"_

"_Yes sir."_

"_Good. You have your orders."_ The vox turned off as the Princep signed out. The veteran shifted his titan to face his team who were waiting for orders. _"The Princep has ordered us to head for the battle and assist the infantry in stopping the Covenant from trying to escape and effectively crush them at once. _

The Imperator started trudging forward through the city with the others tailing behind his as they headed for the battle.

Aries-Troopships _Lycia_ and _Uberno_

The two transports slowly touched the ground as their engines sputtered for a final time before loud thumps were heard as the landing gear hit the soft soil of the ground. Loud hissings were heard accompanied with the wiring of hydraulics as the massive doors opened and ramps were lowered unto the soil with a soft 'thud'.

Silence hung in the air before a new sound cut through. The sound of thousands of footsteps hitting the ground with rumbling vehicles was heard emitting from the transports until the armies came out. Ranks upon ranks of men came marching out in synchronization without missing a beat. Their light blue-armor with dark blue lines running diagonally on their chests glittering in the sun as their faceless helmets revealed grim expressions on their faces. Banners floated amongst the sea of men denoting their origins. Then the vehicles followed along the men. The Baneblade tanks with their towering size and armed to teeth with weapons. The smaller Grizzly tanks following their larger cousins as their main cannons loaded up. Cobra destroyers trudged along with their projectors charging up. Land Warthogs brought up the rear of the groups. All in all, the armies of Corverus marched together towards the enemy to extract vengeance for their transgression. Above them, hundreds of dropships came roaring past them while accompanied with aircraft for support.

Valkyrie V-T105

Master-Sergeant Dekurius checked the chamber of his bolt rifle once more before slamming it shut. Around him, men of his platoon imitated similar actions with their own weapons as the dropship brought them closer to their destination on their home planet. Home, he never thought he ever come back here for many years. Now here he was, early and with uninvited guests making a mess of their place.

The craft started shaking with muffled explosions sounding off in the background. Looking through one of the small window slits of the Valkyrie, he could see outside plasma rounds exploding in the air around the dropships as pilot franticly moved their assets to dodge the incoming fire. He shielded his eyes as one of the Valkyries erupted in an ball of fire from a direct hit before its remains tumbled down to the ground below.

"Pilot, what's the ET to our destination?" Dekurius shouted to the Valkyrie pilot.

"ET is 40 seconds. Get yourselves ready," replied the pilot back. Suddenly, one of the plasma rounds exploded nearby, causing the dropship to shake uncontrollable before the pilot yanked the craft back in line. "Shutting the blast shields in!" Announced the pilot to everyone. The inside of the Valkyrie became dark as the blast shields locked in place before red lights bathed the room with an eerie glow.

"Everyone! Lock and load your weapons." Said Dekurius to his platoon. The unmistakable sound of guns clicking off their safeties and ammo clips slamming in place echoed across the sealed room.

"ET is 15 seconds!" Yelled the pilot to the back. "Get ready!"

The men began shuffling around to face the closed ramp in the back of the Valkyrie. 'Stormtroopers in the front and devastators in the back! In formation men." Dekurius ordered to everyone. Soldiers carrying their signature storm shields and storm bolters moved to the front of the group with their gear raised while the members of the devastators armed with heavy weapons stayed back for support. Silence hung in the air as everyone waited for the pilot's signal.

"We've landed! GO GO!" Yelled the pilot as the Valkyrie shuddered from touch down and the ramp opened to the outside world. The stormtroopers soon charged outside with their shields raised and their bolters firing while plasma struck their shields or passed overhead. The rest of the platoon filed out behind them with haste and started laying suppressing fire while the devastators warmed up their weapons. Other Imperial soldiers did similar actions as more dropships arrived and unloaded their compliment of men. All around Hysandi's outskirts, Imperial forces clashed with the Covenant forces.

Stormtrooper Hayden raised his adamantium-made shield as magnetized plasma scorched the metal. He snapped his bolter and fired off several shells at his enemy. Most were deflected by the shields of his foes and detonated with no effect while a few titanium-tipped ones cut through shieldless enemies and activated their cores that result in body parts flying apart.

From the corner of his eyesight, Hayden could see several Imperial soldiers being overwhelmed literally by Unggoys as their muffled curses were heard under the mass. He saw in another corner a Jiralhanae Chieftain swinging a large gravity hammer and sending broken bodies flying in the air while its bodyguards trialed behind with maulers and spiker rifles belching fire. Hayden witnessed a Sangheili Zealot cut and slash his way through Imperial ranks in blur of action.

He brained a Storm Major with his shield when it got too close to him and emptied his clip at a Dome Minor until his gun clicked. He quickly ejected the empty clip and slapped a new one into place and continued firing without pause.

"Mgalekgolos! Watch out." A panicking voice of a soldier rang out among the Imperial ranks.

Hulking forms of massive creatures soon lumbered into the fight. Standing over 4 meters tall and covered head to feet with ridiculous thick armor, Mgalekgolos were something _not_ to mess with in battle. Especially when they're strong enough to throw a land warthog at you with little trouble and break every bone of yours from a simple swing of its arm. Each is armed with an assault cannon fused in one arm and a large shield in another. Their nickname, "miniature shock tanks", is usually the best way to describe them in the battlefield since they serve as shock troopers and their equipment is on par with a tank.

Rumbling was heard to the nearest as the Mgalekgolos 'growled' at the foes standing in front of them. Assault cannons were set loose into the mist of their enemies as they broke into a charge and started carving a pathway through the Imperial ranks. Screams were heard as the large shock troopers mercilessly crushed any foe in their sight as they slowly drove the Imperials back and regained lost ground. Unnoticed by the Imperials, the Mgalekgolos were simply distracting them to allow most of the Covenant to start falling back to the evac zones without being harassed.

Hayden ducked as bodies flew over his head and continued contributing his bolter in taking down the biggest threat. Of course it was easier said than done when nearly all the rounds fired simply bounced off its incredibly thick armor while plasma and laser only scorched the surface.

"FALL BACK! We can't hold this position anymore! They're tearing us apart!" Yelled a major over the sounds of explosions, guns, and screams.

At that command, the Imperial forces began an orderly retreat as they tried holding back the Mgalekgolos. Unfortunately they stepped up their efforts in breaking apart the their ranks upon seeing them retreat.

A series of loud rumblings is heard above everyone as fighting slows down with every head looking up. Breaking through the clouds in the sky were countless drop pods that began crashing throughout the city with several including a large one crashing in the area.

The fighting died down with the introduction of these pods. Hissing his heard as panels open up from the pods. Armored beings climb out of the pods and armed to teeth with weapons. The largest drop pod releases a large mechanical suit that all the Imperials recognize as a dreadnought.

Silence hangs in battle before the dreadnought decides to interrupt. **"Forward Brothers of Aurora! Sons of Corverus, rally yourselves to battle with us once more!** Came the booming voice of the dreadnought to everyone. The Spartans begin firing at the Covenant with superior speed while the dreadnought himself charged at the Mgalekgolos. The Imperials quickly rally themselves and join the Spartans in the attack once more.

Venerable Dreadnought Trion charged at the nearest Mgalekgolo and slashed it with his power claws as the armor that was able to be impervious against bolt rounds and plasma broke down against graviton energy. The combined Lekgolo form collapsed from its grievous wounds as Trion turned his melta cannon at another fired point-blank, destroying the entire upper body to atoms. The remaining ones roared in anger at the loss of their bonded partners and charged recklessly at the dreadnought. Trion fired another burst from melta at the chest of one, instantly killing it. Turning to face the last two, he sidestepped the swing of the first one and sliced the shield arm of the second while bashing down the head of the former with his melta at the same time. Temporally dazing the first one, he brought his full attention on the second and thrusted his claw into the chest. The Mgalekgolo gave a 'roar' of pain and tried to fire its assault cannon at the dreadnought. Before it could do that, Trion ripped his claw out, taking a good chunk of the Lekgolo out and destabilizing the form. With the second out of the picture, Trion pointed his melta at the last Mgalekgolo remaining that soon came out of its state. Seeing all of its partners dead, it angrily charged at Trion to extract vengeance even at the cost of its life but he decided to end with a burst in its head, effectively ending it.

The death of the Mgalekgolos finally broke the Covenant pressure and initiated a full retreat the evac zones seeing that the battle has been lost for them. All over the city, the Covenant was being pushed back by the arrival of the reinforcements in every turn as more and more Imperial forces land and joins the fight. It quickly becomes clear to the Covenant that they've lost the battle for this planet and it would be a waste to keep fighting for a lost cause. Slowly, they begin to retreat, leaving token forces to slow down the Imperials before they themselves fallback in order to get everyone off this world.

CSO-Carrier _Sacred Life_

Shipmaster K'toranee carefully watched the Imperial fleet as moved his ships over the evac zone secretly to not tip them off. He knew that if let his ships get destroyed; the ground forces were as good as dead and that would mark a stain on both his and his family's honor. It would be better to die defending the ships carrying the survivors; honor would still be preserved in his family.

"Shipmaster, why didn't help with the battle before? We wouldn't be in this situation if we had contributed our strength." He signed from the question coming from his second-in-command, Gul 'Bteronee.

"The Fleetmaster had given me specific orders before the battle occurred to have my group stay back and not interfere with the fight, even if he was losing."

"And that's what happened!" Exclaimed 'Bteronee. "Most of our fleet is in ruins with only a handful that can still fight in one piece and only 4 of them are strong warships. If we had assisted, we would've-"

"Been destroyed." K'toranee interrupted him. "Fleetmaster Rafirmee felt that there was a good chance that we wouldn't hold off against reinforcements. Our ships suffered fighting the defenders of this world and now we lost most of it against this fleet. Not too mention we have yet to face the Sector Fleet this world is part of. If joined the battle, we would end up condemning our comrades on the surface to their deaths."

"I-I understand, sir." 'Bteronee lowered his head in shame from questioning his superior.

"Shipmaster!"

K'toranee turned to face a young Jiralhanae speaking from the communications station. "We've received word from the array controllers. They've succeeded in locking teleporters on everyone on the surface and are awaiting your call for the retreat. All eyes on the bridge turned to face him for his call. Seeing as he was the highest-ranking Shipmaster left in the fleet, he was the only one that could make that order. However, he was a bit hesitant to make this order: by retreating, he would be not only hurting his reputation, but everyone else's that worked hard to earn the respect.

"Alert Shipmaster! More slipspace ruptures are occurring at least 200,000 kilometers to our left." Warned a Sangheili officer from the scanners.

From an image scanner, K'toranee could see slipspace portals open and spew out Imperial ships until there were around 26 ships. _'That does it,'_ he thought. _'We cannot take on both forces together at once and succeed.'_

"Order the evacuation to begin, call all craft to return to back to their respective ships. Have all engines prepped and get the slipspace drives warmed up." The crew went to the controls and started sending out his orders.

On the planet's surface, the Imperial forces were driving back the Covenant slowly out of the city where they could be finished of ounce and for all. Before that could happen, large flashes started occurring amongst the Covenant ranks until to the Imperial's disbelief, every single enemy warrior had teleported back to the ships without finishing the fight. Leaving behind many _really_ pissed-off Humans, most notably the Spartans.

Now, Ultraspartans are well known and famed for being very disciplined, calm (even in desperate situations), and orderly. So it is very rare to see one Ultraspartan, let alone around 2 company's worth, lose their calmness when directly denied a battle for glory and honor (in one of the Covenant's ultimate middle finger's form). So saying they were angry was putting it mildly.

A great roar of anger was heard from the city and all together, the planet. Many of the ship's crew orbiting the planet at the time had sworn they heard the most terrifying set of swears and curses known by Mankind emitting from the planet. It was also said that the anger welded together with psychic energy and traveled through space for others to hear it.

* * *

><p><span>Thousands of light-years away on Macragge<span>

Legion Master Marneus Calgar immediately looked up from the book he was reading peacefully in the Library of Ptolemy, the Librarium of Fortress of Hera, the main Fortress-Monastery and headquarters of the Ultraspartans Legion. He could've sworn he felt members of the legion break their legendary calmness in the angriest way just a few moments ago.

"Something bothering you, Calgar?" Spoke a man wearing decorated psychic robes that identified him as Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius and was carrying a stack of scrolls in his hands with several young Lexicaniums behind him.

"Nothing at all old friend." Calgar seemed to be lost in thought before shaking his head and bringing his attention back to the book. "Thought I felt something out of place. Probably all in my head from having to much coffee in the morning." He muttered the last part to himself.

The Chief Librarian and his apprentices looked at each other before shrugging it off and continued their work.

* * *

><p>"All warriors have been brought on board Shipmaster!" Announced a Sangheili communication officer.<p>

"Good. Full power on the sub-light engines. Get us out of here now." K'toranee ordered to the bridge. None of the bridge argued with him. After all, one would need to simply look out the window and see that the Imperial ships were making a beeline for them with a murderous intent. And no one wanted to be on the receiving end of it.

"Enemy ships are charging their weapons!" Cut in the panicking voice of an Unggoy.

"Jumping into slipspace would a be a good time now!" K'toranee nervously spoke as the Imperial ships fired a massive volley of weapons at them.

"Almost done…" The volley started getting dangerously closer and most of the fleet had already jumped. "…There! Jumping now!" The CSO opened a large portal and started entering as fast as possible with the portal closing _just_ as the rounds passed through the then empty space.

Retribution-Battleship _Starfall_

"**Damn all things that are HOLY!"** Roared Rear-Admiral Charker in anger at missing the only chance of destroying the remaining Covenant fleet. He began yelling every curse and swear he knew in every language he can speak. The bridge simply stood slack jawed at the behavior of their superior and the fact that he was cursing in such a way that would make any crewman of the Navy green with envy. His tantrum went on for a number of minutes before he was able to calm himself down.

"_Sigh_. Rheago, have the squadron return back to orbit and send a message to High Command that Corverus is secured.

"_Yes Rear-Admiral."_ Replied Rheago as sent the commands to all the ships while Charker himself exited the bridge muttering to himself, "…getting to old for all this."

* * *

><p>Codex Imperium:<p>

Stormtrooper: men serving as special shock troopers armed with a Storm Shield and a Storm Bolter. They perform as the first ranks of a charge or raiding a base.

Battle Barge: specially designed ships that perform both as a transport and a battleship for the Spartan Astartes Legions. They have a length of 11km long.

Lunar-class Cruiser: the Spartan's own version of a cruiser for battles. Standing at around 4.8km long.

* * *

><p><strong>And that concludes chapter 5.<strong>

**Remember guys**

**REVIEWS FOR THE REVIEWS GO- *blam* *body hitting the ground* *smoking bolt gun appears through doorway before someone else walks in the room and sits at the desk***

**Heh. Sorry about that. Don't know how that heretic got in here.**

**so remember guys, reviews and good criticism or else *holds storm bolter for emphasis ***

**Until next time! *****looks ****at body* great now I need to clean this up. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Here I am guys.**

**chapter 6 is here!**

**Now to answer some people :**

**Ny'Kle: the Imperium's is not over powering. It just happens that they brought more dakka to fight than the covies.**

**edboy4926: I will be doing Gears of War. Just need to figure when to do it.**

**mr I hate znt nobles kill em: both eldars will be appearing WHEN it is the right time (they will show up). You are right with Innies (almost).**

**SPARTA-626: your advice has been helpful and ME will also be making an appearance in another story of the series.**

**OMAC001: even though posted in the codexes, all the others didn't get codexes was because their tech remains the same except for the Imperium and Covenant. Yes the forerunners will get one in the future.**

**Now onto the story! **

* * *

><p><strong>The Council<strong>

* * *

><p><em>It's usually not a good idea to get on the bad side of the Council of High Lords if you know what's best for you. The Directorate would wipe you off existence with a snap of her fingers. The Grand-Fabricator would make sure none of you machines would ever work. The Grand Provost can make the law living hell for you. The Grand-Governor will make you wish you didn't exist. The Representative of the Imperial Military depends on who it is. For the Paternal Envoy…best not to think about it. Lastly for the Maestro, he will put you through so much red tape you'll never see the end of it.<em>

_And trust me on that, I'm still going through mine's since 2 centuries ago and I still can't see the end of it yet._

_-Regional-Governor Marcus Leonidas_

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><p><strong>Segmentum Solar<strong>

**Providence Solar**

**Regional Solar**

**Sector Solar**

**Sub-Sector Solar**

**Sol System**

**Core World Terra**

**3.531 I.C**

In the black void of space lies the fable planet Terra, the ancient homeworld of Humanity. For countless millennium, this world has stood against the withering strength of the universe. It has witnessed the rise and fall of mighty empires both within and outwards. And in its greatest moment, gave birth to one of the finest sentient species to ever travel the stars: _Homo sapiens_, or better known, Humanity. The planet Terra stood in the Sol System, Humanity's ancient home star system. The greatest and most defended star system in the Imperium of Humanity.

And that's what Lord of Admirals Terrance Hood was experiencing as his flagship, the Oblivion-Battleship _Fist of Sigmar_ traveled calmly through space while passing under the shadow of a Dark Space-station as is stood silently as a sentinel. Around his ship, hundreds of civilian ships traveled to and out of the Sol System under the careful watch of thousands of warships of the legendary _Solaris_ Galactic Fleet under the command of High Lord Admiral Preston Cole of the Solar High Command.

He continued watching through the bridge as his passed the Mars with its massive shipyards and space elevators orbiting the red planet while the surface was dotted with large factories and plants that every forge world has. He watched the massive form of a completed Eternal-Supercarrier leave the shipyards and take off with escorts through a slipspace portal.

"Milord, we're approaching Terra and will be docking with the space elevator Cairo." A junior officer informed Hood.

"Good. Alert me once we've docked with the station," responded Hood to the officer. The junior officer saluted and walked back to his station.

Returning his gaze back to the windows, he could see Terra filling the view of the bridge. Orbiting the planet was countless defense stations of every class and numerous elevators. On the surface itself, Hood could see the green and blue of Terra's forests and oceans with its large cities dotting across the world. His visage was ruined when his ship rumbled a bit and muffled sounds of something clamping on his ship echoes through the hull.

"Milord, we have successfully docked with the Cairo. Your transportation awaits for you."

"Very well. I leave this ship in your care Captain Dmitri." Hood spoke to the captain who sat in his command chair.

Hood walked out of the bridge and through the hallway until reaching series of doors with the label of tram system inscribed above. Tram systems were widely used in large ships like the one Hood's currently in since it would take too long to walk to one end to the other. He waited until he heard the 'ding' and the doors opened to admit him in. Walking in and taking a seat, the doors closed and the tram soon took off to his destination: the airlock gates.

Minutes passed for Hood before he felt the tram slow down to a complete stop and opened the doors. Hood exited out as others filed past him into the tram for their own destinations while he headed for the airlocks.

Cairo Space Elevator

Hood's naval boot clicked on the steel tiles of the station's floor after exiting the airlock tubes connecting his ship to the station. Looking around the bustling room, Hood noticed a decorated officer standing at the back and was scanning the crown before his eyes fell on Hood and stood at attention from the presence of a ranking officer. Hood realized that this man was his guide to the Imperial Palace. He crossed the room until he reached the man who still stood at attention.

Silence hung between the two men before Hood felt it would better for him to speak. "Are you my guide?"

The man saluted with a smile. "Yes milord. I'm Major Leonard and I will be your guide to the Imperial Palace. If you please, follow me." Leonard indicated with a sweep of his hand towards the exit. Hood nodded and the two proceeded to walk out of the station and towards the transportation bay.

Outside the station, a Valkyrie could be seen exiting the bay and heading for the surface of Terra in an area known as the Himalayan Mountains where the fable Imperial Palace is located.

Imperial Palace, Himalayan Mountains

Sitting both on top and in the mountains is the Imperial Palace. A massive building that spans a good length of the mountain range and is the location of the Council of High Lords and the home of the God-Emperor of Mankind himself. Hundreds of spires rose from the palace with large gateways and bridges connecting everywhere. Below the palace and spreading for many kilometers is one of the largest cities of Terra. The city was filled with large towers and spirals rising from the ground for kilometers, rising platforms and other magnificent architectures dotting the city landscape all with hanging gardens to add a sense of beauty. Thousand of vehicle traveled both air and ground in the city as people went on through their daily lives.

"We are touching down at the Imperial Palace now," spoke the pilot over the intercom of the craft. Both men stood and walked to the back of the Valkyrie as the ramp lowered and exposed them a clear view of the palace. Exiting the craft and began the journey of traveling towards the Eternity Gate.

Hood and Leonard walked through a long bridge separating the palace and the city that was filled with people and guards. Large statues of famous Imperium heroes dotted the length of the bridge as the two when went farther until there was only empty spaces for the future. It took them at least half an hour to make the journey before reaching the gate guarded by numerous legendary Custodian Guards in their brilliant golden armor and two Chassis titans covered in golden plates.

Upon arrival, one of the Custodes walked up to them, "name, status, and your purpose here." Said the Custode in a strict voice while his eyes bore down on the two men.

Hood gave the guard a holo-ID to him. "Lord of Admirals Terrance Hood and the Council of High Lords has called a meeting together since I represent the military there." Hood spoke with absolute conviction and truthfulness. Leonard did the same with the guard. The Custode inspected their IDs before nodding in satisfaction and returning it back to their owners. "Welcome Lord Hood, the rest of the council awaits for your arrival." The Custode spoke with a slight bow with his head.

Hood accepted his ID back. "Thank you. I will be on my way." The two men made their way past the Custodes and through the opened gate towards the Senate of the Council of High Lords.

The Senate

The Senate room was located in the largest spire on the tallest mountain to signify its importance. Right now, a heated discussion was occurring in the room as the members waited for the military representative to show up. They didn't have to wait long for no sooner did Hood entered the room and take his place amongst everyone could the meeting start.

"Good, your finally here Hood. The meeting can now start." The Maestro of the Administrate announced in his ancient voice. Sitting in the meeting were all 7 members of the council: Maestro Giovanni Di Menisci of the Administrate, the oldest member of the council at 596-years. An old man with an impressive long white beard and has been holding his position for such a long time many wonder how he hasn't gone senile yet; Directorate Margaret Parangosky of the Officio Agente, at 427-years, she is a cold-calculated women who's every action is benefit Humanity as long as the risk is worth it. Not to mention that she's a human 'blank'; Grand-Fabricator Dolores Halsey of the Mechanicus, the youngest at around 408-years old, a good deal off his body had been replaced with bionics from an accident back when he was a young apprentice; Grand Provost Nicholas of the Arbiters, at 453-years, he carries an aura of criticalness on everything he sees; The Paternal Envoy Sarius Gorki of the Navigators, a wizened old man at 522-years old. He wears a very old set of robes and a Navi-hood to signify his experience, and finally the Grand-Governor Kern Vigath of the Colonial Order. Around 477-years old, he is the most experienced in political life that can rival the Emperor's.

"Lord Hood, you said in the message that you have important news to bring us?" Parangosky spoke in her emotionless voice. Hood grimaced a bit from her voice; it was something he never got used since her very being projected an aura of uneasiness to anyone, pysker or not.

"Yes, yes I do. But first, you all know of Exploration Fleet Centaur and how they've been silent?" Nods of heads came from all the Lords. "Well a patrol group found them, or rather what was left of them." Silence filled the room before all everyone started shouting.

"When did this happen?"

"Do you know the culprit of this?"

"How did they fall?"

Suddenly, a powerful voice cut through the air, "SILENCE!"

Immediately everyone became silent as figure strode into the room with his Custodian Companions accompanying him. Instincts fell in as everyone in the room bowed their heads to the approaching man. Entering the room is a man standing at 2.74 meters [9 ft] tall; his body shaped with the perfection of the human body and radiated godly power that no other being could hope to match. He is the one and only, the God-Emperor of Humanity.

The Emperor took his place on a throne-like chair before indicating Hood to continue.

Hood cleared his throat, "as I was saying, we found only a small number of their remains. The majority of the fleet appears to be missing."

"Was the Covenant of the Mantle responsible for this?" Questioned the ancient Maestro in his croaky voice.

The question made Hood frown. "I had enginseers inspect the remains and they've all concluded that this isn't the work of the Covenant. Someone else had done this." Once again, silence hung over the room as everyone digested the news. Everyone knew that the Exploration Fleet was well protected although armed with outdated gear; it was still more than enough to give any opponent second thoughts. To hear that they were just destroyed was a bit unsettling.

Parangosky stood up from her chair. "Do you have any theories Lord Hood of whom may have been responsible?"

"No I don't. But many of the command suspect it the work of a new race," he answered grimly. He didn't like the fact that a new species could have done this.

Sarius spoke up, "then its imperative that we find the one responsible for this action before they try again." Heads nodded in agreement with the Navigator.

"Then we're all in an agreement." All the council members turned to face the Emperor. He moved his gaze to Parangosky. "Directorate, you know what to do."

She bowed her head. "I understand milord. I will inform the Sectium Xenos of this revelation and have them decide on the course of action." She closed her eyes to communicate in the neural-link.

"Any more news to bring in this council?" Asked Menisci to everyone.

Vigath coughed slightly to get the maestro's attention. Menisci motioned him to speak up. "As you know, we had defeated the Covenant at Corverus but at a price. Most of the infrastructure and defenses are ruined and would require aid and resources to repair them back to full strength."

The Maestro grunted in agreement. "I will have the departments make the necessary work to make that happen." The Governor smiled at the Maestro. "Thank you very much Menisci."

"Directorate." Lord Hood's voice interrupted everyone's discussion. "This has been nagging everyone in the military, but have your agentes discovered the reason why the Covenant of the Mantle are attacking us?"

Parangosky sighed as she slumped on her seat. "So far we aren't even closer to finding then before. All we know from interrogations is that they are pretty much angry about something we 'supposedly' did to them. They refuse to tell us what we did only that it was something bad enough to not be spoken or _thought_ at all."

Expressions of surprise erupted on everyone's faces from the piece of information. "Your telling us that we 'did' something so bad they refuse to even _think_ about it?"Everyone noted how much emphases Sarius placed in the word think.

She gave a slow nod. "They say that we came down on one of their worlds and attacked it. And something about slandering our heritage name, which is unforgivable." Heads turned to face the Lord of Admirals as he realized the implications.

"Before any of you start accusing me of being trigger-happy, no I did not order an attack on a xeno's world without any of you knowing and all fleets were accounted for." Hood spoke with a hint of anger in it.

"Then it is important that found out who is responsible for throwing us into this war," said the Emperor from his seat. "We need to know the real reason behind this war and quickly. Is that understood?" He received acknowledgements from them. "Then I declare this meeting over. You're all dismissed."

Everyone soon started breaking up after being dismissed and going back to their respective positions.

* * *

><p><strong>Providence Solar<strong>

**Regional Solar**

**Sector Solar**

**Sub-Sector Epsilon**

**Epsilon Eridani System**

**Fortress World Reach**

**3.531 I.C**

Fortress world Reach is one of the greatest defended worlds second to Terra. The world served as the capitol of the Imperium Military and because of that, its defenses were fierce. Thousands of warships patrolled the system while countless stations orbited everywhere with defenses becoming thicker if any enemy tried to get closer to Reach itself. Even though the other planets of the system weren't military, they still benefited from the security.

Orbiting the planet were massive dry docks capable of holding and caring several hundred ships. Numerous Dark Space stations stood guard over the planet like silent sentinels of the past with their weapons pointing out and daring anyone foolish enough to try and attack this world.

Below on the surface, massive fortresses filled the landscape in strategic and crucial locations. One such fortress, located in heart of the Menachite Mountain is known as Castle Fortress. This base served one purpose other than a defense; it served as the headquarters of Sectium Xenos, Officio Agente.

Castle Fortress

Master Agente Gregor Eisenhorn was shifting through messages being sent to him from the active members in the field and other bases of the Sectium spread throughout Imperium space. He let a sign, paperwork was never his favorite thing right now he was going through another boring day. However, his work was interrupted by a flashing message on the screen indicating its importance. Wondering to himself on what could possible be so important about this one, his eyebrows shot up upon reading the name of the sender and didn't waste anymore time reading the entire message. Reading the report, Eisenhorn could see that his day would get very interesting if what he read is correct; he moved the message aside and pressed a label on the screen. "Ravenor, get yourself up here in my office now. This is very important."

Minutes passed by until the door of the office slid open and a young man entered the room. Eisenhorn turned to face his former protege, Gideon Ravenor as the man sat across his former teacher.

Silence floated between the men before Ravenor decided to break it, "so what is very important for you to interrupt me from my studies?"

Eisenhorn handed him a portable holo-screen. "Look through the message and you'll see." Ravenor accepted it and began reading it. A few minutes passed by before his own eyebrows shot up and looked back at the ex-teacher in surprise. "She cannot be that serious."

Eisenhorn snorted at that response. "This is the Directorate we're talking about. She never makes a joke like this."

"Yes I know but still, trying to find out the fate of an entire exploration fleet when there's _barely_ any of them left. We may not be able to see this investigation finished at all."

Eisenhorn waved off Ravenor's worries. "Yes I know that, however, it is very important that we find out who was the cause of the fleet's demise. All exploration fleets are armed to fight a war without any backing from us for years. To find out that they've been annihilated is very concerning."

Ravenor leaned back on his seat. "So what do I need to do?" Even though he knew the answer, he felt like humoring his old mentor.

Eisenhorn stood off from his chair and calmly walked to the windows of his office since they provide a clear view of the landscape surrounding the mountain. "You will head off to solve this mystery and possibly the threat along with it." He turned around to face the young man. "Take a squad of the Deathwatch with you. I have a feeling you'll be needing it."

Ravenor also stood up from his chair. "I understand. I will take my leave now and make the necessary preparations."

He turned around and began walking to the door before Eisenhorn's voice stopped him. "Oh and Ravenor." He turned to face him. "Try to come back in one piece and don't blow something up."

He smiled at the last part. "No promises," he responded before exiting the office.

Eisenhorn sighed as he sat in his chair again, feeling the pressure of age taking a hold on him. He still remembered back then when he was a young Agente in the field and traveled a lot. _'And now I'm stuck here in this Emperor-accursed office simply because I'm too "old" for this work now.'_

Ravenor walked through the hallway as members of Sectium Xenos bustled around him before reaching a set of double doors guarded by two Atlas suits. One of the Atlases focused its glowing lenses on him when a flat beam of light shot out and started scanning him. Minutes passed by before the light retracted and the two machines stepped aside to allow him access. Ravenor entered the two doors before they closed behind and the two Atlases moved back into place.

In the orbit of Reach

High above in the orbit of Reach, one of the massive docking facilities opened a large bay to allow a ship to exit out into space. Speeding through space is a Prowler-class Stealth ship, the OA's only fleet of ships in service. The ship continued building up speed and distance until reaching the edge of the system where a slipspace portal opened and swallowed the ship.

* * *

><p><strong>Slipspace-transit<strong>

**Prowler-Stealth ship **_**End of Time**_

**3.5.31 I.C**

Ravenor walked to the bridge of his assigned ship as it graced through the dimension of slipspace. Around him, servertors worked on the controls of this ship while the captain sat in his command chair while piloting this ship with the ship's onboard navigator.

"So Agente Ravenor, where is our destination?" he turned to the voice behind him and saw it came from Battle-Captain Carter of the Deathwatch kill-team Noble. The spartan was clad in his power armor with the helmet tucked under his right arm. Nearly the entire armor was painted black to signify his service to the Deathwatch. One of his shoulder pads remained unpainted as it signified his allegiance to the Crescent Warriors Chapter, Legion XVI Luna Wolves. Like himself, the rest of the team is composed of Astartes of different legions. The first one is Sternguard-Veteran Jorge of the Aurora Chapter, Legion XIII Ultraspartans. There is Vanguard-Veteran Emile of the Ravager Chapter, Legion XII World Breakers. Scout-Sergeant June of the Raven Guard Chapter, Legion XIX Raven Guard. Librarian-Warrior Six of the Persecutors of Darkness Chapter, Legion I Dark Angels. And finally, Techmarine Cat, one of the rare female Spartan Astartes in existence from the Sisters of Battle Chapter, Legion III Humanity's Children. They all formed Deathwatch kill-team Noble.

"Where Exploration Fleet had last contact with the Imperium, the Nomad Fleet of Giardia."

Carter raised an eyebrow at the name. "Truly? You realize it can take us months to find their location since they're always on the move."

Ravenor shook his head in response. "No it won't. I was able to learn the next system they plan to stop at for refuel and rest. That is where we will meet them for information we need for the investigation."

Carter nodded his head. "Understood sir. In the meantime, the team and me will wait." With his last words, he turned around and walked out of the bridge. Ravenor simply turned back to face the windows of his ship while continuing watching the swirling form of slipspace outside.

* * *

><p><strong>Unknown Location<strong>

**N/A I.C**

"My Archon." Spoke a kneeling figure in the dark bridge of a ship before a standing tall figure garbed in malicious clothes. 'The 'humans' have found the remains of their fleet that we've left out as you requested."

The figure shifted a bit before a dark voice came out. "Do they suspect?"

The kneeling one hesitated before giving an answer. "It appears they don't but that could change any moment. But they have sent a agent of theirs to hunt down the culprit. I will take a team with me and hunt down that poor excuse of an inferior species before he can discover us." The figure stood up and began moving towards the back but stopped at a simple word.

"No." The word rang across the room as its effects occurred.

The figure turned around in surprise and shock. "B-but my Archon, if we don't eliminate him, he might-" His sentence was cut of from the simple wave of a hand.

"That will not be necessary. Everything is going to plan as I hoped it would." A dark chuckle echoed across the room while the figure's face still conveyed an expression of confusion. "We will still continue with our objective. All we have to do is let all the pieces fall into place and reap the benefits."

The figure made a smile that could chill the bones of a daemon. "Understood, Archon Asdrabael Vect."

* * *

><p>Codex: Imperium of Humanity<p>

Prowler-class Stealth: at a length of 2.5 km long, Prowlers are not designed for combat. There are equipped with systems that allow them to be invisible in either electronic or eye view. They are lightly armed but make up with powerful shields and advance cyber technology.

Consocius AI: AIs/Machine spirits that serve as personal companions to high-ranking people in both the civilian and military structures.

Militaris AIs: AIs/Machines spirits that serve as a strategic/tactical coordinators between fleets and armies for faster responses in the battlefield.

Chapter Praestes: they're non-Astartes that serve as the guardians of the chapter's ships and bases since Spartans cannot focus themselves on everything (think of Chapter Serfs in 40k, except they have a bigger role).

Atlas Suits: exo-suits that house an AI in them and serve as heavy shock troopers. At a height of 2.43 m (8 ft), they can be equipped with all kinds of weapons and built to be faster, stronger, and more resilient to damage compared to a normal human.

Sector Fleet: often times, Imperium reinforcements can take a while to arrive to a planet's distress. As such, these fleets are composed of ships from different planet's PNDFs of the sector and are headed by a Sector Admiral.

Drop Pods: vehicles that can deliver Imperium soldiers to the battle instantly without delay. Both the Spartans and HDSTs use these for shock attacks and bringing in a fast response.

Deathwatch: an organization of volunteering Spartans with xeno experience that serve as the Chamber Militant of the Sectium Xenos of the Officio Agente.

* * *

><p><strong>And here are you guys for chapter 6!<strong>

**Reviews and (positive) criticism**

**It seems that things are beginning to heat up a bit. What happened to the fleet? What exactly is the guy in the end (NO spoilers!)? Will Ravenor succeed or will he fail?**

**Find out next on Galaxia's Wars!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'MMMMM BBAAAACCCKKK! **

**Sorry for the long wait guys. I had to deal with college applications and I tell you, its a real headache.**

**So lets get to the comments:**

**mr I hate znt nobles kill em: you're very correct with the Dark Eldar and the fleet. Same with the Innies except with the whole 'corrupt' part. There are still some other human civilizations outside of the Imperium's border. It will depend on the crossovers you guys want to see in the series like what I will do with the Gears of War one later on.**

**SPARTA-626: yeah I know and thanks**

**Kinunatzs: this God-Emperor is stronger than the Pre-Horus Heresy one but weaker than what the other guy might be with all those sacrifices.****  
><strong>

**Oh and I just want to clarify some things- Galaxia's Wars is serving as a support platform for future stories so you guys won't ask questions in later stories like "when did they have that?" or "they were never that strong before." That sort.**

**Not to mention this serves as chance if you guys want to suggest new weapons to appear in the story (if I didn't put 'enuff dakka') and other features (ships, planets, battles, species, etc.) you feel would help improve the story or make it better.**

**Oh and one last thing: does anyone know of any good editors/beta-readers that can help me? They could end up helping produce improved stories for you guys.**

**Now…ON TO THE STORY!**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Mystery of the Lost Fleet<strong>

_The cosmos are filled with mystery and wonders. But one should still trend with caution for there are many things that lurk in the shadows; waiting to strike at you with all the horror they carry with them._

_-Mechanicus Astronomic Valgus Betarius_

* * *

><p><strong>Segmentum Ultima<strong>

**Providence Karnix**

**Regional Icarus**

**Sector Olympian**

**Sub-Sector Telstar**

**Tasonic System**

**Hive World Tasonic II**

**3.532 I.C**

The Prowler _End of Time_ had been waiting patiently in the orbit of the hive world for the Nomad Fleet of Giardia to show at their stop. Days ago, Agente Ravenor had been in contact with the leaders and have arranged a meeting to discuss the fate of the exploration fleet. Now, Ravenor had been informed by the system's FTLs warning systems of an approaching mass nearing the system in slipspace.

"Milord, radiation levels are increasing at an outstanding rate. A large portal is being opened!" A crewman shouted from his post in the bridge.

"Very well, have the ship move aside to make space," ordered Ravenor. Servitors made inhuman groans in acknowledgement while crewman responded with salutes. The Prowler along with the planet's defense fleet moved aside as a massive slipspace portal slowly opened up near the world.

After stabilizing, the portal began spewing out countless ships from its abyss as they moved forward and started taking positions around. Soon, the number of ships exiting the rift stopped while it started swelling at an astonishing size before the final member of the fleet came out. What came out left many to stop what they were doing and gawk at the object. To call it with puny words like giant or huge would have been an insult. The thing was a behemoth of unbelievable size. The slipspace portal quickly closed behind after completing its purpose.

Towering over everything else, the massive station/ship measured at around 200kms long and over 140kms high. Large ports and living-quarters jutted out from the structure like a metropolis. Covering the surface of the ship-station were countless batteries and other defenses against any foolish attackers. One unique feature many noticed was the humongous chunk of earth that looked fused to the body while making up most of the mass of the ship-station. While many didn't know of its presence, Ravenor however knew why it looked like the fleet had ripped off a piece from a random planet. That 'chunk' was the only remaining large piece of the former Imperial Core world Giardia.

Ravenor remembered the history reports read when he was much younger: Core world Giardia had been explored and colonized in the Segmentum Ultima around 1.472 I.C. For years it had flourished and became the capitol of its respective sub-sector. That was until it met its fate on 1.826 I.C: a massive Ork WAAAGHH had managed to break through security and Giardia stood in the path of the invasion force. The planet had been quickly reinforced with ships and ground forces while the population evacuated to safety before the orks arrived. When the orks arrived, battles of large magnitudes erupted as both sides fought each other with extreme prejudice. After 5 years of continues fighting, despite the attempts of the Imperium to save the world, the ork's overwhelming numbers began winning. The Imperium then tried to make a last ditch effort to retake the world with their Navy but proved disastrous that marked Giardia's fate. The Lord Admiral soon declared Exterminatus on the world in order to deny the orks their prize. A Nova-star bomb was fired at the planet with nearly the entire orks gathering at it and with a single strike, Giardia shattered and the ork threat extinguished for good. Even with the Imperium victorious, it came with a price: millions of soldiers were lost, thousands of ships and machines destroyed, and an entire world lost forever to defeat an Ork WAAGGHH. The people of Giardia suffered the most however; they had lost their home planet and now had nowhere to go. It wasn't until during one of their sweeps of the battlefield for any valuables of their former world did they find something. A massive piece of their planet still capable of emitting gravity floated in the debris. With a newfound determination, they dragged the piece and began working on it. Placing gigantic engines at the back and building a new city throughout the piece. As the years went by, new layers were built over each other with the ship-station expanding as the population increased until reaching it current size. A proud achievement of Human engineering and determination to survive.

"Sir, the fleet is contacting us."

The news brought Ravenor out of his thoughts. "Very well, bring up to me."

The operator nodded before typing in some commands before the holo-screen in front of Ravenor activated. Appearing in the screen was grizzled man with a beard while wearing a naval uniform of the PNDF. _"I take your Agente Ravenor of Sectium Xenos, correct?"_

"Your are indeed correct Fleet Castellon. You also know why I'm also here for."

The Castellon nodded his head. _"Indeed. You have permission to board our home and meet us."_

"Understood. I will meet you there." Said Ravenor before the screen turned off and started exiting the bridge for his transportation.

Ship-Station _Giardia_

Ravenor walked into a wide room dominated with a large round table. Seating on the other side of the tables were the high-ranking men of the fleet: Planetary-Governor Melker of Giardia, Lord Castellon Kornuva, Fleet Castellon Weimar, and Chapter Master Libelous of the Black Dragons Chapter, Legion XVIII Salamanders. They all turned their heads after the Ravenor made his entrance known.

Taking a sit by the table, Ravenor looked around the room before speaking, "you all know why I'm here. I need to know when you last contacted them and what happened." There were hints of seriousness in his voice.

They took a moment to look at each other before nodding to each other in a silent agreement and Kornuva rising up and sliding a data module to Ravenor.

"As you may have been told," said Melker as he calmly walked around the room. "We had brief contact with the exploration fleet a few years ago. We had crossed paths and decided to interact a while with them before the left for the fringes of space." He stopped at his seat before gripping it slightly and glared a bit at Ravenor, who didn't flinch from the expression. "However, not a few months later, we picked up a distress call from the fleet reporting that they were under attack by 'unknown contacts'. Before we could react, a small group of ships we then recognized from the fleet jumped from slipspace into our region bearing scars of a heavy battle and venting in many places. We came to their side, did our best to patch up their damage, and asked them in what happened." Melker stopped at the end of the room where a large holo-image of the former world Giardia looked prior to its destruction. "The ranking officer of the group failed to tell us what happened, along with many of the surviving crew. All he said to us was 'pain and death will be with us if we are blind to the incoming storm' and handed us this very module you carry right know in your hands. With that, he took his group and despite our protests, jumped away to presumably warn the rest of the Imperium. Fearing for the safety of our people, we jumped far away from our previous location. It didn't matter where we went, so long as we stayed far away from where we were to avoid the same fate that had befallen them. But seeing that your are here, we presume that they failed to deliver the warning?"

"That is true governor," Ravenor spoke in a grim voice a he inspected the module for any hints of activation. He quickly noticed a peculiar detail from the module. "Gentlemen, it appears that this module has not been opened at all since it was locked by its former user."

"That is because the security mechanism is geared to be only unlocked by a high ranking officer that is unfortunately higher then what we have." Libelous's heavy voice sounded across the room. "None of the techs wanted to break in the system without the risk of damaging the data by accident."

"Mmmm…" Ravenor thought for a moment before bringing his right wrist in front of the module and allowing it to scan. The module's screen activated with a blue glow as letters appeared. +Scanning device…/+

Everyone in the room waited for the scanning process to complete and open up the sealed module before they were rewarded with a new message. +Scanning Procedure completed. Agente security Level accepted. Unlocking device now+

The module's screen warmed up with a brighter glow than before as information and labels appeared. Ravenor noted however a folder labeled 'Urgent News to Command' that was slowly pulsing with red to indicate its importance. Tapping on it, the screen suddenly darkened to everyone's surprise before static was heard emitting from the device.

"…_This is…miral César…oration fleet under atta…unknown hosti…ughtering us! We need reinfor…peror help us we ca…too fast for our wea…highly advance…eaking in the bridge! Kil-…"_ The static message ended abruptly, leaving everyone in deep thoughts. However, there one clear thing from the message, the possibility of a new foe was clear.

'This supports my suspicions, the exploration fleet was indeed attacked by a new foe and not the Covenant of the Mantle," said Ravenor out loud.

Weimer had confusion on his face. "If it wasn't the Covenant, then what? There are very little known species we are aware of other than those in the Covenant and the Orks. And we all know that there are indeed many other undiscovered species outside in the fringes." Everyone took his fact in consideration since he made a good point until a new voice interrupted.

"_Sir, if I may interrupt?"_ The voice of Ravenor's personal AI Merrick rang through everyone's neural-link. _"I've received a recent news of high importance."_

"And that would be…?" Questioned Ravenor.

"_The Librarium of the Ancients on the Archive world Voltas was recently unlocked and all the wealth of our ancestors ready to be opened to us once more."_ Merrick spoke with a happy tone in his voice.

This grabbed everyone's attention immediately. It was well known that the Librarium of the Ancients is a planet-size library filled with knowledge predating the current Second Ascension of Mankind and possible the First Ascension. Everything their ancestors knew and collected hundreds of thousands of years before their fall by the deceased Forerunners. A library that would give the Imperium the information they need to understand the cosmos better than before. While the Emperor knew many things, he had mentioned when Voltas was found that he was only alive prior to Mankind rediscovering space-travel in the beginning of the Second Ascension.

"That is…great news indeed." Melker spoke in a surprised tone.

Libelous, who has been absently quite from thinking, suddenly slapped his hand on the table. "The library may contain the information we need to discover the culprits on the attack once and for all."

"And finally figure out why the Covenant of the Mantle had been attacking us all this time and what their blabbering nonsense about their Mantle means." Ravenor said with realization in his eyes. "We might be able to stop this war once and for all."

Ravenor stood up from his chair. "Gentlemen, I'm aware that you may not like this at all, but with the powers of the Officio Agente and by the will of the Sectium Xenos, I hereby request the draft of several of your forces to support me for the duration of the mission until it ends."

As he suspected, many of them had the expressions of annoyance from hearing those words. While the Officio Agente wasn't everyone's favorite organization, the Emperor decreed that they had certain powers and one of those is the power to draft units from any military group if an Agente requested them for a good reason. So far, Ravenor knew that he had a good reason to request units for his mission.

Fleet Castellon Weimer sighed in defeat. "Very well Agente Ravenor. I will loan you several ships of my choice to you and expect them return in one piece."

Lord Castellon Kornuva rose up from his seat. "I will send you veterans for your mission."

"I will have a platoon of Spartans accompany you in your mission," said Chapter Master Libelous.

Heads turned to Planetary-Governor Melker for his answer. "Might as well loan you several administrate members to help you in the library."

Agente Ravenor of Sectium Xenos smiled in relief. He was worried he might have to break out in a drawn-out speech of why he needed their men to help him. "Thank you very much, I will try my best to make sure your men return back in one piece." He finished with a slight bow of his head for appreciation. "I will take my leave now, the Emperor watches us." He finished with the sign of the Aquila.

'The Emperor watches us." The rest chorused together and made the sign too.

Prowler-Stealth_ End of Time_

Ravenor was in his quarters while reviewing the report of Giardia forces he requested. From what the dossier said, he had been given ten ships: one Oberon-battlecruiser _Unbowed_; three Marathon-cruisers _Iron Star_, _Sky Holder_, and _Artemis_; five Firestorm-heavy frigates _Twilight_, _Death's Blade_, _Golden Horn_, _Frost_, and _Spiritual_: and one Harrier-destroyer _Inconceivable_. Joining is group is a platoon of Black Dragon Spartans from the 2nd Company. Finally, a company's worth of veteran Marines and a platoon of HDSTs will join him. With all these forces, Ravenor felt he would be able to handle wherever the mission might lead him to.

Turning off the holo-cogitator, he exited his room and made for the bridge. Upon entering the room, many of the crewmen snapped to attention before he waved them away and approached the commanding center.

"Captain Jonathan, are all ships in line?" Ravenor asked to the man on his side without turning to look.

A middle-aged man identified as Captain Jonathan sat in the Command Chair while reading his own reports in a holo-tablet before setting it down to answer the agente's question.

"All ships are in place and ready for the jump. We've already set the coordinates for Archive world Voltas and Navigator Shan has given us the go-ahead." Both Ravenor and Jonathan were old friends who have worked together on many missions since Ravenor was given his first objective and Jonathan assigned his own ship. So far, they've had a strong bond that has seen them through many tough situations.

"Thank you Captain, inform all ships to now jump for Voltas."

Above the atmosphere of Tasonic II, eleven slipspace portals opened as the respective ships entered them before destabilizing and ceasing to exist after serving their purpose.

* * *

><p><strong>Star Cluster Herald<strong>

**System Se'Hyma**

**High Charity**

**14****th**** Age of Conflict**

Drifting through the void of space in a star system was the capitol of the Covenant of the Mantle. It wasn't planet as many might think but a massive station: High Charity. Measuring at over 340 kilometers and 280 km high, its size would leave anyone slack-jawed in amazement of its engineering might. Surrounding the station is an equally massive fleet to protect it from anyone from getting any funny ideas. Inside the station were large cavern-rooms of cities filled with the species of the Covenant. To any outside observant, it would look like the inside of the station housed a world completed with a landscape.

But at this moment, the view was the last thing in mind for Councilor Xel 'Nithoree as strode through the guarded gates of the Sanctum Hierarchy where the rest of his fellow members awaited for his arrival. Arriving at a set of large gates, he waited until the groaning sound of servos occurred as the doors opened. Quickly walking through as the gate closed behind him and entering the room where the rest of the Hierarchy sat.

The Sanctum Hierarchy carried a sense of beauty and power inscribed in its walls, which were covered in images and depictions of the Covenant's greatest moments in its history. Taking his place among the room, he could see the rest Hierarchy members snapping out of their previous actions before his arrival. On his right sat Minister of Order (San'Shayum), Chieftain of the Old Maccabeus (Jiralhanae), and High Matriarch Anesa'Sana (Kig-Yar). On his left was Hive-Queen and King of the Chosen (Yamne'e), Merchant Lord Yip-Lo (Unggoy), and the Ancients Ogada Nosa Fasu and Igido Nosa Hurru (Lekgolo). There was one empty chair for the Hurogok but Nithoree knew that they wouldn't bother at all since the last time the Hierarchy tried, all they did was float around and appear bored.

"Ah, there you are. What took you so long?" Spoke a very agitated Anesa'Sana from her place. "I had to endure the pain of listening to Yip-Lo and his antics."

'Nithoree shrugged from his seat as he returned his attention to everyone else.

"Aside from hearing complaints, what I want to know is what exactly were we called here for? The message was marked 'urgent' and I'm pretty sure hearing 'Sana complain isn't the urgent business." Maccabeus interrupted with a bored tone while inspecting his knife. A huff of irritation was heard from 'Sana, which he ignored.

A rumbling 'growl' was heard from Ogada while the translators picked the sound up. _"We're aware that Order had called all of us together for something important. Isn't that right Order?"_

Order sighed a bit before answering, "Yes you're correct. I called all of you together today for some very important and probably disturbing news." Hearing his explanation left many Hierarchies in thought while digesting his words carefully.

"Err…not to sound bad but what exactly could be disturbing?" Questioned Yip-Lo. A chorus of agreements came from the rest of the delegates as they wished to know also.

Order fiddled with his fingers a bit before raising his head to face the curious gazes of his fellow members. "You all remember the Blood of Samara?" He didn't have to wait long for an answer. Xel'Nithoree and Maccabeus carried expressions of anger while clutching their fists till their knuckles turned white. The Hive representatives, the Lekgolo, and Anesa'Sana let out mournful sounds of pain and sadness while Yip-Lo looked ready to start crying a new river. All the members remembered that fateful event very well. When the first "official contact" with the Imperium of Humanity occurred and resulted in the death of an entire Covenant world.

"Yes. I remember it clearly liked it happened yesterday." Maccabeus growled under his breath. "Tell how it even _relates_ to what we came here for."

"You remember when we were able to assert that the Imperials that attacked us were simply a vanguard force or scouts of a bigger force?"

Maccabeus raised an eyebrow at the question. "Yeah I remember. What about it? Found something that makes the information worse than before?"

Order shook his head. "No, rather I found something very startling that might have a large impact on all of us." The Hierarchy members looked at each other in confusion, as they didn't quite understand what he meant by that.

Ignoring their confusion, Order continued, "you are all aware of the armada we sent to the world the Imperium designated as Corverus?" Nods of heads were the only response he received. "Officially, the force was to invade the planet take it from the humans. Unofficially, the invasion served as a distraction for key Spec Ops members to infiltrate their headquarters and place tampering devices in their systems." This piece of news surprised many members.

"What exactly did we need to have several Ops place devices in their systems?" Asked 'Sana.

"Because…" 'Nithoree spoke, surprising the others, "Order and me had were slightly suspicious of the 'Imperials' who attacked us as they looked very different compared to the ones we fight currently. Not to mention those in the Imperium seem to have morals and honor while the ones before didn't have a single shred of it. It's almost like those who attacked us were rogues." Finishing his explanation, he watched as the expressions of the Hierarchy turned from surprise to one of disturbing, as they slowly comprehended what he meant.

"What's more," continued Order, "the devices sent us recent news detailing that the Imperium had lost contact with what they called Exploration Fleet Centaur years ago, before any contact was made between us. The very same name that was found on the ships that attacked us without provocation." Murmuring was heard as the rest took the news. "What's more, the humans have found remains of the fleet that had not been destroyed by us nor any known weapons." Order allowed them to slowly digest the information as their expressions began changing to realization and horror.

The Hive-Queen emitted some soft screeches and chirpings while she spoke in everyone's mind. _~That would mean that this entire war, the sacrifices, and deaths are all in vain?~_ There was hints of sadness in her voice as her bond-mate comforted her while everyone else were shocked and grim.

Order looked like he would hate himself for saying this. "I know I would regret saying this but yes Hive-Queen, everything has been in vain." The dam finally broke as the Hive-Queen psychically 'cried' at the news, which unfortunately meant that everyone else in the room felt the sadness literally. The results were lots of tears shed and a few prides temporally brought down.

"Does that mean that Humanity was never our enemy?" 'Sana asked while trying to keeping herself from openly crying.

'Nithoree frowned at the question. "That is something that we are still unsure. For all we know, Humanity is indeed an enemy to us. But for now, they're simply a victim like we us in this war. But will still tread with caution."

A growling was heard as Ogada's bond-brother Igido spoke, _"Does this mean that we will have end this war on a sour note? The Imperium will not take a simple 'sorry' apology easily. They would want retribution."_

"I'm very aware of that, Igido." Said Order. "Which is why we will simply ease down on our offensives and focus on hunting down the ones responsible for starting this war."

"So that way when we catch the ones responsible for this, we will be able to prove to the Humans that we weren't the instigators of this war." Maccabeus said with his eyes shining with realization.

"Exactly," responded Nithoree.

"Yeah, except there's one small problem." Interrupted Yip-Lo. Heads slowly turned to his direction while trying not to appear nervous.

'And what exactly is the 'small problem' with this idea?" 'Sana sarcastically asked.

Yip-Lo appeared more nervous than before. "Weellll…um…ehhh…where do we start looking for the culprits?" he asked sheepishly.

Silence dominated the room instantly as everyone soon realized they haven't really thought that far when it came to catching the culprits.

_~He does have a very point there~_ informed the Hive-King much to the annoyance of others.

'Nithoree leaned a bit forward in his seat. "I would suggest sending an Arbiter to do our work."

"Who exactly could we send? The only available Arbiter is Ripa 'Moramee and we all know how he is. I would leave a trail of destruction through Imperium space to find the evidence." Pointed out Order to 'Nithoree.

"Which is why my fellow councilors and me have chosen a different Arbiter," informed "Nithoree.

"I was under the impression that all the Arbiters were focused in the front-lines with none available for anything else." Spoke Maccabeus.

"That is because he recently attained the rank of Arbiter not too long ago." Receiving questionable gazes, he explained further. "Thel 'Vadamee of the State of Vadam. Former Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice after leading his force in a crushing victory against Imperial forces at the Omnora Stronghold."

"_Are you certain that he truly ready for this position? If I recall from your history, attaining the rank of Arbiter is not something simply given out and usually those with centuries of experience earn it."_ Ogada's deep 'voice' rang out.

'Nithoree gave a slight nod. "I'm certain that he's ready to carry out the powers of the Arbiters and the responsibilities that come with it."

"Very well then." Said 'Sana. "So where is he? Back at your homeworld?"

"No." He quickly responded. "I have him waiting in the Council room. I can call him up here now if you would like that."

"Very well," said Order. "Call him up here to receive his first mission as an Arbiter."

Nodding at the request, 'Nithoree opened up a hard-light screen on his wrist and started tapping the screen before looking up back and nodding his head once more.

The Hierarchy waited until the gate slowly opened and admitted in a lone Sangheili to the room. The Arbiter was covered in ceremonial-scaled armor covered in runes and glyphs detailing its history. The armor, while looking archaic and ancient, is a powerful exo-suit made from the rare metal Enutanium and equipped with the finest systems in the Covenant armory. All this turned the Arbiter from a simple warrior to a dangerous foe.

Approaching the table, Thel 'Vadam knelt down to his knee and spoke, "honored Hierarchy, I have come as you requested and await for my mission."

Several of the Hierarchy rolled their eyes at the formalities he was giving them. Many of them didn't like the attention they usually received from the lower-ranks since after all, most did also came from lower positions prior to gaining this title.

Order lifted a hand to stop 'Vadam from speaking further. "Enough with the formalities. And yes, we will be assigning you a mission of the upmost importance that can determine the course of this war."

"Name the mission and I will make sure that it is completed and will give us the upper hand against the Humans." 'Vadam spoke with some hints of firm determination in his voice.

'Nithoree looked unsure to Order since he didn't know how to break the news to the freshly-made Arbiter that Humanity may not be the real enemy and the possibility that the war was just a set up the entire time. Order gave him a pat on the back for encouragement before settling back on his grav-chair. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he decided to just speak know before he further embarrassed himself.

"There…is something you need to know Arbiter." 'Nithoree proceeded to tell 'Vadam everything that has been discussed. Listening closely, "Vadam's expression turned to shock upon hearing the theory on the war.

"Do you now understand why this mission we'll be giving you is of the upmost importance?" Informed 'Nithoree. 'Vadam slowly nodded his had in acknowledgment of what his superiors told him.

"Good then. You will be assigned the mission and will be given a ship and hand-picked units to assist you." Spoke Order.

'Thank you Hierarchy. I will do my best to find out the truth and punish the ones responsible for this mess." 'Vadam proclaimed. "I will not fail."

"I know you won't. You are dismissed Arbiter," said 'Nithoree. Saluting with a fist to the chest and dragging down, 'Vadam took his leave from the room.

Order turned back to face the rest of the Hierarchy. "Now, is there anything else we need to discuss about?" Order received no responses. "No? Well then, this meeting is adjourned." One by one, all the members went their separate ways after dismissed to return to what they were doing prior before called up.

Hanger Bay 215C-3

Arbiter Thel 'Vadam watched as engineers were refurbishing the CVO-Assault Carrier _Shadow of Intent_ and her four CCS-Cruiser escorts specifically to fit the requirements of an Arbiter's mission. He was watching several workers remove a troop compartment until a voice interrupted his trance.

"Beautiful isn't she?"

'Vadam turned around to face the shipmaster of the _Shadow of Intent_, Rtas 'Vadum.

'Pardon me, who's beautiful?" Inquired a confused Thel. He didn't quite understand what the shipmaster meant.

Rtas directed his head to his ship. "The _Shadow of Intent_, glorious isn't she? Served me well through my lifetime and two past shipmasters. She has never felled in a battle and never will."

"Not to sound insulting but why refer the ship as a 'she'? This something I've never heard of before," asked a very confused Thel.

Rtas chuckled a bit, or attempted to with only two mandibles of his jaw. "The 'she' idea came from the Human shipmasters who were very fond of referring their ship as a female and never as a male. It struck me oddly as to why they would do something like that until I paid closer attention to my own ship."

"And?"

"I noted that if there's one thing common between the ships of the Imperium's and ours, is that we both built our ships to be beautiful yet deadly. Hence the term 'she' as it would be the only way to identify the beauty."

"That…was very descriptive Shipmaster." Thel commented in a surprised tone.

Rtas made a Sangheili equivalent to a smile with his two mandibles. "When you have been fighting the Humans forces for sometime, you tend to pick up on some things. But enough talking, I need to make sure you're acquitted with your new ship and the task units." Rtas quickly spun around and started walking to his ship, not bothering to wait for the Arbiter to catch up.

* * *

><p><strong>Segmentum Solar<strong>

**Providence Karnix**

**Regional Omar**

**Sector Rix**

**Sub-Sector Callidux **

**Agni Pendra System**

**Archive World Voltas **

**3.532 I.C**

Outside of the small traffic around Voltas, eleven slipspace portals opened as Agente Ravenor's retinue group entered realspace and formed up around his flagship. There was a general buzz of excitement as everyone onboard couldn't wait to set foot on the legendary librarium. But the excitement soon turned to confusion once they realized something.

"Where in the Emperor's beard is the world's PNDF? There are only stations defending it!" Exclaimed Jonathan. He was not far off since the rest of the bridge and group shared the same thoughts.

"Perhaps they haven't…arrived yet?" An ensign said hopefully.

"_That is impossible. The ships sent to guard this world should've arrived last week! There was no news or alerts of a battle group disappearing without a reason."_ Merrick's voice cut in.

The crew began whispering theories on what could've happened while Jonathan and Ravenor had to deal with the other captains who were hollering for an explanation.

Suddenly, one of the crew let out a sharp gasped as he looked out the window. A chorus of 'gasps' followed his brief action by the rest of the crew including the other ships through the vox until both men turned around and gasped in shock too.

Floating right in front of the group where moments ago was just empty space with absolutely _nothing_ before, stood an Oblivion-battleship painted with the darkest black Ravenor has ever seen in his life. It didn't just stop there, flanking its sides were two Infinite-battleships, accompanied with multiple battlecruisers and countless other ships all with the same features. If Ravenor didn't know better, he would've sworn he was facing ghostly spectra's of former Imperial ships ready to deliver judgment. After all, they just _appeared out of nowhere _without any sign of how they did it. What definitely surprised him was when he tried to probe the fleet with his psychics, he was shocked that the ships were deathly quiet and barely visible through the warp.

"M-m-milord…we're b-being hailed by the l-lead ship!" An ensign stuttered from his post.

Quickly snapping out of his prediction, he cleared his throat. "Patch it through."

The screen in front of him fizzled for a bit before securing the link and bringing it up. And what he saw took him off guard. The screen brought up a view of a tall man wearing a Naval uniform but with a darker shade of color. The man wore a hood that obscured most of his face's features from view and carried a black cloak and ceremonial armor plates covered in in what looked like strange runes. The man looked more like some dark-assassin than a naval personal.

The man stared hard at Ravenor with a piercing gaze. "Identify yourself."

Stepping closer to the monitor, Ravenor spoke, "this is Agente Gideon Ravenor of Sectium Xenos, Officio Agente. I'm sending the codes right know to you."

The man looked to the side of the screen for what felt like ten minutes before returning to the screen and nodding. "You have permission to continue forward Agente." The screen closed immediately and the black ships began moving aside for the retinue to pass.

While passing the ships, everyone tried to get a good look at them. Jonathan went as far as to have the ships scanned and was shocked to hear that none of the scanners even managed to touch the shields. It didn't make the crews opinion on the ships better when all it took was everyone to take their attention off the black warships for just a moment to allow the ships to _disappear_ once more mysteriously.

'_Not sure I even want to know how they even do it.'_ Ravenor thought to himself as his ship and the rest of his group slowly approached one of the orbital stations above the planet. Knowing that the library held the knowledge he was looking for, he was determined to solve this investigation and catch the ones responsible once and for all.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's for chapter 7!<strong>

**Don't forget to post reviews and (nice) criticism**

**The stakes seem to be rising now. Both the Imperium and Covenant have their suspicions on the war itself. What could happen?**

**The Imperium found their species ancient library. What will it contain? Forbidden lore? Better psychic powers? The secret recipe to bake the ultimate pie in the galaxy?**

**Find out next on Galaxia's Wars! **

**Humanum usque ad mortem in æternum.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sup guys**

**sorry for the slight delay, this chapter took _FOREVER_ to complete and was just a big headache**

**so lets skip the pleasantries and get to the comments:**

**mr I hate znt nobles kill em: no the ancient human library cannot possibly have all those guys unless their pets or something like that. Yes, the Covenant have indeed experienced a WAAAGH! And for the guys, they never made it back to the Imperium, what exactly did you think happened to those poor fellows?**

**SPARTAN-626: the mystery fleet is not part of the legion, just an exploration fleet that just got unlucky. I not sure how I can include the abhumans in but I's see if it can be done.**

**Kinunatzs: you are damn right!**

**The Joining: your ideas are intriguing, I will see what I can do about to help make my story better and make all you guys happy. And nope, your not annoying, your ideas are quite helpful.**

**Okay them, on to the story!**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Hunting for Knowledge<strong>

_We are the Shadows_

_We are the Unknown_

_We are the Watchers of Night_

_For Darkness is our Soul_

_Yet we are Loyal_

_To Humanity Forever_

_We have cast aside the Light_

_And embraced the Dark_

_To become the Silent ones_

_To take the Duty of the Lost_

_And forever be Bond_

_Until Death claims us at Last_

_While we still stand Vigilant_

_-Mantra of the Silent Guards_

* * *

><p><strong>Segmentum Solar<strong>

**Providence Karnix**

**Regional Omar**

**Sector Rix**

**Sub-Sector Callidux**

**Agni Pendra System**

**Archive World Voltas**

**Librarium of the Ancients**

**3.532 I.C**

"…as you can see Agente Ravenor, we have so far opened and activated around 67% of the librarium. While we're working as fast as we can to have everything opened, it will take time to have the entire world activated fully." Spoke Master Librarian Ontario Benixa to Ravenor and several scribes and guards behind him as the man guided them through the ancient hallways of the facility.

The hallway was a silver color marked with black lines that formed complex web patterns covering the surface. At the side of the walls stood large statues metal statues towering at 2 meters, standing like silent guardians.

'That is good to hear but I'm more interested in knowing where our ancestor's kept the knowledge of species they've documented."

The librarian stroked his white beard as he though for a moment. "That will be difficult to tell, until we activate the main power grid of this world to bring up its terminals and such, I'm afraid you'll have trouble with your findings. There's simply too much scrolls, tomes, data crystals, and holo-terminals for us to catalog it all. It would take centuries. That is why we must wait until the mechanicus boys to finish their work."

Ravenor was about to retort something before seeing something at the edge of his view. Turning to see what it is, he inwardly gasps as he sees another man wearing an outfit similar to the one he saw in the monitor except instead of a naval uniform, this one wore what appeared like light armor colored black. He noted that unlike the naval one, this one wore a dark, stainless glass helmet that covered his entire face, making him much more intimidating. The man held a nasty-looking halberd at his side that Ravenor was pretty certain was capable of cutting through a Grizzly's armor with ease.

'Um, Master Librarian?" Ravenor's voice interrupted Benixa's speech. The Librarian turned to the Agente with a raised eyebrow. Ravenor pointed his head towards the mysterious guard. "Out of curiosity, just who exactly are these black garbed men you have around this place?"

Benixa chuckled a bit from the question. "They're members of the Silent Guards, Voltas newest guardians."

"How come I've not heard of them? Better yet, there were no records of them at all." Ravenor responded while scratching his head.

'Their existence is recent and has been kept secret to only the Emperor and the High Lords themselves until now."

"What exactly are they? Just how were they able to make ships literally _appear_ out of nowhere?"

Benixa laughed at the last question. "That is because they practice an extremely rare form of psionic abilities invented by our ancestors that allows the wielder to utilize the shadows of the universe to grant them powerful abilities. Or in other words, able to utilize the darkness of the cosmos close to it's full potential without corrupting you. It is said that the founder of the group first found the tome of this power in an ancient human world long forgotten and brought it back with him. He spent time studying the tome, hoping to unlock its secrets and gain new knowledge. However, unknown to him, the tome was slowly drawing his attention to it and he began spending more time than before trying to decipher it. Suddenly without explanation, he locked himself in his study to 'unlock the knowledge uninterrupted'. And for 15 years he stayed in his study without any outside contact and when everyone suspected he had died either from starvation or thirst and were about to break in, it happened."

"What happened?"

"Just as they were about to break down the door, he suddenly manifested through the shadows of the surrounding area without any warning and declared that he had finally crack the secret of the tome and learned its hidden knowledge. While everyone was excited of his achievement, he had said that the power came at a price." Benixa faced Ravenor with a serious glare. "To become a Silent Guard, you must cast aside your Light and embrace the Darkness in your soul. You become a shadow and no longer the same as before. You become part of something greater than many can imagine."

A frown appeared on Ravenor. "That almost borderlines with heresy."

Benixa shook his head. "No it doesn't. Close, but no. The Emperor made sure to see that it was truly safe and won't corrupt people instantly." He suddenly then looked distracted as he looked aside for a moment and concentrated as though he was listening to someone. Minutes passed by before a smile appeared and he looked back at Ravenor. "Miracle news, I was just told by Magos Julinos that they're nearly done with reconnecting the main power and the facility will soon be up and running."

Minutes passed by before the lights of the facility began activating. Blue lines began running through the black lines as a soft hum was heard in the background. However, the peace soon became short-lived when an alarm blared out in full blast with a voice.

"_**ALERT! ALERT! INTRUDERS DETECTED IN THE FACILITY! ACTIVATING DEFENSE PROTOCOLS!"**_

Immediately, the immobile statues turned to life as energy coursed through their bodies and they stepped off their platforms. The statues brought out forth cannons that materialized from nowhere and pointed them at the group. Shields of unknown material sprang up and isolated the group one by one while panels on the ceiling opened to release turrets which proceeded to bear their weapons at their targets. Drone-like machines began materializing out of thin air in great numbers as they surrounded the 'intruders'. The weapons of the group flew out of their holsters as magnets activated. Massive doors slammed shut on each side of the hallway while rods rose up from the ground and began crackling with all sorts of different energies in a threatening gesture. From the corner of his eye, Ravenor could see the Silent Guard trapped in a multitude of shields with some sort of bracers locked on him to restrict his movement and countless of advance weapons aimed at him. Ravenor couldn't help but be impressed with the kind of defenses their ancestors placed to protect this librarium.

"_**NAME YOURSELVES NOW INTRUDERS SO I WILL KNOW WHO'VE I DESTROYED**__**…**__**creators?"**_

Everyone soon became confused as the defenses lowered their weapons at the group. Just a moment ago, these ancient devices looked ready to unleash hell upon them and now they've stopped.

"_**Creators, is it truly you?"**_

Ravenor looked around before shouting, "show yourself now!"

"_**As you wish."**_ Seconds later, light began building up in front of them before taking shape. The light hardened into metal as a sphere object with floating panels surrounding it. A large eye appeared to be the 'face' of the machine and its core seemed to glow a light blue. The machine moved closer to the group and scanned them with a blue light before gasping in shock and moving back.

"_Y-you've truly returned creators! Humanity has once more arise from its ashes! YEEEHAHAHA!"_ The machine began flying around in joy while the security ones 'cheered' in agreement. The humans meanwhile were dumbstruck with shock at what they heard and were currently witnessing.

Deciding to break the excitement, Ravenor stepped forward. "STOP!" Everything stopped from the force of his voice.

Seeing he got everyone's attention, he waved the machine clearly in charge of the facility. "While I'm glad you lot are happy and such, what exactly is GOING ON!?" His voice vibrated through the hallway.

"_Apologies. I simply got carried away."_ And with a simple command, all the defenses retracted back in place as the group was released.

Dusting himself, Benixa looked up to the machine. "You are you exactly?"

"_My name is 521-Tangent Sparks of this facility. I was assigned by the creators to become the caretaker of the place and guard all of its knowledge from our enemies."_ Came the reply.

"And what is this place?"

"_One of our greatest storages of knowledge in human space. Everything from history, technology, science, and many others. And seeing that none of the previous humans are alive, you're all now inheriting this place. I am under your command now."_ Tangent informed the group.

Mutterings of surprise were heard among the assembled scribes which Ravenor ignored as he stepped forth to the ancient machine.

"521-Tangent Sparks, as you are now under our service, I request that you open the library and everything it has to us and activate all the machines." He ordered.

"_Would you prefer that I also activate the others?"_ Tangent inquired.

This confused Ravenor. "Others ones?"

"_Ah yes. You see, while we were having a conversation, I took the liberty to sweep through your databases on your ships for information. I noticed the information of intact tech and infrastructure of my creators. I can send a command sequence that will fully activate them into operational status. I must say your Machine Spirits are very respectful and generous once placated."_

Ravenor thought for a moment before nodding. "Do it."

[[[[[[[[-]]]]]]]]

Core World Primus Tatil, Metris City

Activities in Metris was the same as ever for years since it was founded. The city was a bustle with people going about on their business in their home. At the center of the grand city was a massive complex of ancient infrastructures clearly made by Humans pre-dating the Imperium by hundreds of thousands of years. It was a sight many people enjoyed seeing in their city.

A faint, white flash occurs on the tallest tower of the structures, grabbing the attention of many eyes before being dismissed as a mere trick from the light. Suddenly without warning, a low rumble was heard rocketing through the city as all activity comes to a halt. Confusion spread through everyone as they tried to pinpoint the cause. Shouts of surprise and shock begin rising as citizens witness the formerly dormant infrastructures activating with a hum of power. Structures begin expanding and forming as the ancient machines groaned from pressure after countless millennium of inactivity. Minutes of tremors stopped as people watched in awe of their ancestor's memory become active once more. Basking in the glory of the sunlight stood a proudly First Ascension technology showcasing its beauty.

Agri-World Arcerus

[[[[[[[[-]]]]]]]]

Farmers and machines were harvesting crops in a large field with a few stopping to take a small glance at an old metal tower sitting in the background once in awhile. Members of the Mechanicus had told them the structure is very old and dormant without any specific energy, which they didn't have in order to wake it. Many were disappointed from this news since they had been eager before to witness such an ancient relic become active. None knew of the surprise they would be receiving.

A large tremor cut through the field as everyone stopped to balance themselves from falling. A large cry broke everyone's concentration.

"Look, the tower! It's rising!"

True to his word, the tower was indeed rising from the ground. What happened next caught them by surprise. Immediately, the ground below and surrounding the building exploded upwards as more structures rose from the ground along with others away. The men watched in silent shock as ancient infrastructures rose from the ground around them like earthen pillars of rocks. Large platforms rose higher in the sky while massive buildings expanded outwards once exiting the ground as matter built up and formed solid materials to contribute with the mass.

The tremors soon stopped once everything broke through the surface as the farmers witnessed the ancient facility finish building itself and stood presented to the world.

[[[[[[[[-]]]]]]]]

Hive World Toscana

Traffic around the planet and its three moons was quite boring for many of the operatives manning the watch stations guarding the perimeter. Nothing interesting ever happened in this section of space in their careers.

One of the operatives was going through his shift at the controls and was attempting finding something to distract himself to prevent boredom until one of the scanners began giving off readings. The man took one moment to read the results before his eyes widened in disbelief and rapidly started typing at a cogitator. Minutes later, another operative barged into the room and looked at the readings.

"Are you sure the readings are correct, Stan?"

The man identified as Stan grunted in annoyance. "I'm sure of it. I doubled checked the readings and made another scan. And before you say it, there is no glitch in the system. Enginseers already checked the systems two days ago."

"But this still can't be right. The readings are indicating that the energy is occurring in the Toscana II moon! Nothing explains how this is happening." An alarm interrupts the man's confusion as monitors start bringing in new data. Stan quickly rushes to read the new data.

"Sir, the Moon! Toscana II… it's breaking apart! The energy levels are increasing at an unnatural rate!"

Sure enough, the two men witnessed Toscana II, one of the moons of Toscana shattering through the screens as something inside forced the celestial body apart into fragments.

"Warn the defenses to maneuver themselves out of the way and to go after the larger pieces before they can hit the world." The man failed to notice his partner gaping at the screen while he ranted out orders. Minutes of ordering went by before he noticed his distracted friend. "Stan are you even listening? Get to the controls and…" His tirade is stopped when Stan grabs his head and forces him to face the screen, shutting him up. Occupying the space where the former moon Toscana II stood was a humongous station that they soon realized has been the one giving off the high-energy readings.

"Stan," the man spoke slowly, "inform the planetary governor of this new revelation. An ancient tech of our ancestors just destroyed one of the moons."

All over the Imperium of Humanity's territory, technology of the First Ascension woke up after hundreds of thousands years of inactivity. Ready to do be utilized by Humanity once more.

* * *

><p><strong>One week after opening the Library of the Ancients<strong>

Voltas was a source of heavy activity ever since it has been opened. The Administrate had swarmed the place once Tangent had given them permission to go through the archives.

"I need you three to go through all the rooms and terminals containing any info of species that our ancestors have had contact with. I want it all on my desk by the next day." Ravenor requested to several scribes as they nodded in confirmation and took off. He sighed a bit after they left. Finding the information was harder than he had originally thought before. The inactivity the library had gone through meant that entire chambers and areas were sealed off and needed to be manually opened. So far, a good deal of the place had been opened but there was still work left to do.

"Agente Ravenor!" A voice rang out behind him.

He turned around to see a scribe of his retinue running up to him before stopping in front of him and trying to catch his breath. "We…found…something…extraordinary and…mind breaking." The scribe wheezed out in a shacking voice. Clearly he had been running a lot if was really out of breath.

Ravenor cocked an eyebrow. "What exactly did you find that would leave you gasping for air?"

The scribe scowled a bit before tacking in a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm not sure what we found but it's something you need to see now." He started walking down the hallway while indicating Ravenor to follow him. The two men walked through the hallways that was filled with all members of the Administrate and Librarians whom were all busy cataloging the wealth of knowledge.

Soon, they stopped at a set of doors was currently guarded by several Silone drones. The scribe ignored them while walking up to the doors and pressing some command keys on a panel. He finished typing the last keys before the doors slowly opened and the drones moved aside to admit them in. Entering through, the two men found themselves in a large cavern that Ravenor estimated to be around 200 meters of both length and width with the height of the room at 110 meters. But that's not what caught his attention. Rather the presence of a massive hologram of the galaxy which was clearly detailed and refined to such a degree that it looked as though someone took a real galaxy and shrunk it before dumping in this room. The technology of this holo was, in Ravenor's opinion, superior to anything else he had seen.

"What is…this?" Ravenor asked in silent awe while inspecting the rest of the holo-image of the galaxy. He noticed there were already other people in the room that too were inspecting the tech.

"_What you are currently looking at is the present image of our galaxy, Galaxia. Every star position, clusters and planets are positioned in the hologram exactly as their real-life counterparts."_ Tangent's voice cut in while he floated next to Ravenor, who failed to notice his presence at first before correcting himself. _"We referred it as the Watcher of Stars."_ The men could hear the pride in his voice.

"Wait," said Ravenor while turning to face the monitor, "you said that this gives a full-time view of our galaxy?"

"_Indeed it does."_ Tangent turned to the hologram to show them. _"Watcher, show Terra and the Sol System."_ Surprise and awe was plastered in everyone's face has the hologram suddenly began zooming at a specific arm of the galaxy and past countless starts before stopping at a particular one. It took Ravenor a few seconds to realize that he was looking at Terra: the capitol and birthplace of Humanity and the Imperium of Humanity, through a 3-D camera. He could see the massive fleet of ships guarding the vital system along with ships moving back and forth across the room like in a simulation. Ravenor couldn't honestly describe the excitement he was currently going through at the show of advancement he was witnessing.

"Is this truly transmitting real-time?" An exited scribe asked Tangent.

"_Indeed it is, sadly, this is so far limited to only the Orion Arm and its surroundings. I've so far requested a recently activated facility to start manufacturing the probes required to finish completing this prize. Hopefully by the end of the century, half of the Galaxia will be mapped and watched. I also must say, your defenses are quite similar to what your ancestors had before. I almost feel bad for anyone that would dare try to attack a bearer of the Mantle."_ Tangent remarked out loud.

"The Mantle? What exactly is it?" Ravenor was confused with this word.

Tangent stared at him in disbelief as though he just spoke blasphemy. "_WHAAAATT?!"_ He screeched out. _"How can you not know what it is? It is one of the most important ideals of your people and you don't know what it is? If you don't know what it means, then how do you know of the word?"_

Ravenor scowled in irritation at Tangent's questions. "Other than you, the Covenant of the Mantle are the only ones who go around yammering about the 'Mantle' and other stuff."

Tangent paused after hearing this. _"The Covenant of the Mantle, just what exactly are they? Many of you keep making mentions of this group yet I'm unaware of what they are."_

"They're a coalition of different xenos forming a single power with the ultimate goal of promoting and enforcing the Mantle. Or so we have from prisoners of war we extracted the information from. We're at war with them."

"_The species Agente,"_ Tangent droned out while in his thoughts, _"what are they made up of?"_

"From what we know, they're composed of the San'Shayum, the Sangheili,, the Jiralhanae, the Unggoy, the Yamne'e, the Kig-Yar, the Lekgolo, and the Hurogok. Although the last one isn't really trying to kill so we don't to the same." He spoke thoughtfully before returning his attention to Tangent, who was slowly digesting the information.

"_Three of the Mantle's races are still alive with another taking the original's one place."_ Tangent whispered to himself. Ravenor had to strain himself to hear what he said. "Ummm, I'm sorry, can you repeat what you had said? Didn't quite catch it."

"_I said that three of the Mantle's races are still alive, not counting ours and another had theirs replaced with a successor."_ Tangent said excitingly without bothering to tell Ravenor why.

"Whoa whoa, slow down! Races of the Mantle? What about us? Your not making any sense at all!" Ravenor demanded.

Tangent 'sighed' from his request. _"You better sit this one down because it's going to be a long story. Now, where to start…"_

* * *

><p>Codex: Imperium of Humanity<p>

Watcher of the Stars: a highly sophisticated work of hologram technology. This machine incorporates the use of special probes that transmit using what is suspected is reversed-engineered Precursor tech that allows a 3-D, real-time view. Humanity designed in the late stages of the First Ascension during their war in an effort to be able to effectively watch their borders and see the movement of their enemies in their own territory. Unfortunately, the probes were only able to spread around the Orion Arm and its surroundings before the Forerunners defeated Humanity and stripped them of their technology. It has been dormant for ages until recently recovered by the Imperium of Humanity.

Silone Drone: A First Ascension drone that is designated as infantry for the armies of Humanity, as such, they use their numbers to defeat their opponents with overwhelming firepower and numbers. Geared with moderate shields and A.I intelligence compared to the more recent Spherion Drones that had entered late. Armed with two Zeus blasters and a single Screech, it is very dangerous when confronted in numbers.

Zeus Blaster: a weapon that fires concentrated electric energy into a single beam. Its properties are unknown only that when fired against an armored target, the victim will be fried whereas an unprotected-target will simply explode from the shear amount of power coursing through the body. The gun is very effective in knocking down shields in a single blast but unfortunately has a charge up timer.

Screech: working similar on the Imperium's sonic weapons except much more advance. Like any other sonic weapon, a single hit will both shatter the shields of any opponent and liquefy their organs from the shockwave, effectively making an instant-kill weapon. The only difference is that its range is much longer, fields a superior power cell, and much more powerful.

Silent Guard: an organization working on the same foundations as the Emperor's Custodian Guards. Utilizing a very rare form of psychic energy that is deeply connected with the Cosmo's dark space (i.e. its shadow) known as the Warp's Darkness, the early Humans had managed to isolate and create to work only for a human. The training is very brutal and few survive to ever make to the final test. However once they do pass, they become one of the most dangerous warriors but also one of the most at risk with corruption from their abilities. Dressed in grabs of black, they are quiet men that have little to no fear since they seem to know of something far worse but have declined to tell anyone outside their group with the exception of the God-Emperor.

The Warp's Darkness: there is little information concerning this type of psychic energy save for the fact that Humanity is the only race that has shown the ability to harness this power remarkably without falling to corruption easily. It is known that when a being assimilates with this ability, they must fight a constant war in their mind to prevent themselves from falling to the dark nature of the Cosmos and the Warp. As this nature contains things that could make even the Ruinous Powers pause in hesitation.

Library of the Ancients: a planet-size library containing a treasure drove of knowledge from the First Ascension. It is widely considered by the Imperium of Humanity as the largest relic of their past to be discovered in their history.

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><p><strong>Attention all readers, before any of you start whining, I will take a short break on this story. <strong>

**Reason why is that I need to clean up and upgrade the codexes since they're not very good and I need to add the Ancient Human one. So don't panic and think the worlds gona end.**

**Don't forget to post reviews and comment!**

**Unto next time!**

**In tenebris metuunt.**


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